Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) defeat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 10 runs with the help of R Tripathi's excellent batting display.
Match Score
1st Innings: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR): 167 (20 overs)
2nd Innings: Chennai Super Kings (CSK): 157/5 (20 overs)
KKR won the toss and elected to bat first. R Tripathi was rewarded with the opening position after his exciting cameo against MI in the previous match. He survived a couple of run-out chances at the beginning of the innings and looked like it could be his day. He was the only batsman who scored more than 20 runs for the team. S Gill, S Narine, D Karthik & P Cummins chipped in with 11,17, 12 & 17 respectively. While R Tripathi was going about his business with the bat wickets kept falling at the other end after brief partnerships. In the end, KKR managed to score 167 runs.
In reply, after losing the wicket of Faf du Plessis at the team score of 30, CSK looked set for the chase. S Watson and A Rayudu built a decent partnership and it looked like they would cruise to victory. After 10 overs they were 90 for 1. The match changed on its head after the fall of A Rayudu's wicket in the 13th over. The decision which initially looked like a blunder of not giving Narine the ball earlier despite the good partnership between S Watson & A Rayudu seemed like a masterplan of KKR. He chocked CSK for runs in his first 2 overs and also picked up the wicket of Watson in the 14th over. Runs dried up for CSK in the 5 overs bowled after the 10th, only 20 runs were scored. S Curran released a bit of pressure in the 16th when he took the attack to Narine but by this time run-rate required had already shot up. The situation went from bad to worse in the 17th for CSK when V Chakravarthy removed Dhoni. S Curran followed his captain next and the run chase which should have been easy became a misery. CSK lost the match they should have won.
Top Performers of the Match
Batsmen:-
R Tripathi (KKR): 81(51)
S Watson (CSK): 50(40)
A Rayudu (CSK): 30(27)
Bowlers:-
K Sharma (CSK): 25/2
S Curran (CSK): 26/2
D Bravo (CSK): 37/3
P Cummins(KKR): 25/0
For full score please click here.
Player of the Match
R Tripathi was given Man of the Match for his stupendous effort with the bat for KKR.
Captain's Corner
D Karthick:
Promoting R Tripathi as an opener and holding back S Narine up until the 12th over both were the masterstrokes. It looked good because it worked but would have been criticized if the decision had back-fired, cricket can be a cruel game for captains at times.
M Dhoni:
He shouldn't have much to complain as captain. Everything was going as per the plan before a sudden dismissal of Rayudu and Watson. Maybe he could have sent R Jadeja before K Jadhav.
A strange match to say the least. KKR somehow managed to win this match. It is still hard to believe that CSK lost this match after the start they had. Perhaps that is why this shorter version of the game is famous, it is highly unpredictable.