KKR made an epic comeback last night to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They beat CSK by 10 runs.
PERFORMERS OF THE DAY
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS Bat: Shane Watson 50(40) Bowl: Dwayne Bravo 4-0-37-3 Karn Sharma 4-0-25-2
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS Bat: Rahul Tripathi 81(51) Bowl: Andre Russell 2-0-18-1 Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-28-1
AS IT HAPPENED
KKR won the toss and elected to bat first – such has been the trend this season. New Opening Pair Instead of Narine, it was Rahul Tripathi who opened with Shubamn Gill. While Gill fell early, Rahul continued to strike the ball nicely. KKR got a good start. After the power-play, they were 52/1.
Jadeja Did Not Bowl
Jadeja did not bowl at all in last night’s game. This was because of 2 reasons. Firstly, CSK bowling at any stage didn’t look like they needed the 6th bowler. Secondly, KKR’s batting line-up has left-handers in abundance. Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma and Sam Curran, all bowled miserly in the middle overs to slow down KKR’s batting.
Hitting Maestros Not Firing
The hitting maestros of KKR (Morgan and Russell) are not firing consistently. Russell in particular has been struggling to connect the ball this season. KKR struggled in the last 5 overs, scoring just 39 of it and gave away 6 wickets. They ended on 167, nearly 20 runs short of what they should have made, given their start.
THE CHASE : The Two Contrasting 10 overs
CSK started the chase fairly good. Although Faf didn’t stay for long, Rayudu and Watson hung in there and scored at a good rate. CSL were 90/1 at the 10 overs mark. They needed just 78 runs in the last 10 overs to win the match. From overs 10 to 15, CSK batters managed to score just 20 runs. They scored no boundaries in this period and also lost both Watson and Rayudu’s wicket. The match went haywire for the yellow army.
Unable To Finish Yet Another Match
CSK needed 58 from the last 5 overs. But this proved a little too much for the yellow brigade. They kept losing wickets, owing to some brilliant bowling by the Knights. Chakravarthy got Dhoni to push CSK deeper into the hole they dug themselves.
Russell closed out the game nicely for KKR. He bowled 2 important overs in the death and made sure that no CSK batsman pulled off a Tewatia! Rahul Tripathi was adjudged the Man Of The Match for his brilliant 81 runs.
Also Read : Mumbai Indians Won by 57 Runs
