Mumbai: Kolkata Kinght Riders won the 15th match of IPL 2021 by 18 runs. In a thrilling encounter that went down to the wire Kolkata Knight Riders were set a huge target of 221 for victory over Chennai Super Kings. In reply KKR got all out for 202 in 19.1 overs. After losing the toss and opting to bat, CSK put up a challenging total of 220 for three. Openers Faf Du Plessis (95 *) and Ruthuraj Gaekwad (64) were the top scorers for CSK.
In reply to CSK’s huge score KKR did not give up easily despite losing five wickets for 31 runs. Pat Cummins (66 *) and Andre Russell (54)’s fifties and Dinesh Karthik (40)’s quick fire innings brought KKR back into the game. But they could not win because they did not have enough wickets at the end. Score: Chennai 220 for three. Kolkata 202 all out in 19.1 overs.
Cummins hit 66 off just 34 balls, including six sixes and four fours, while Russell hit 54 off 22 balls, including six sixes and three fours. Karthik hit four fours and two sixes in 24 balls for his 40. No one else crossed the 2 digit mark.
KKR, who batted to a huge total, needed a good start. But Deepak Chahar’s four-wicket haul shattered their top order. Nitish Rana (9), Shubhman Gill (0), skipper Eoin Morgan (8) and Sunil Narine (4) were dismissed by Chahar while Rahul Tripathi (8) was dismissed by Lungi Ngidi. With this, KKR collapsed to 31 for five in 5.2 overs. At that moment it was doubtful whether KKR, which lost half of its men, would cross even 100 runs mark.
But then KKR was seen counter attacking CSK. At first the Russell-Karthik duo added 81 runs for the sixth wicket. Russell returned in the 12th over with a team score of 112. Sam Curran got him bowled around his pads. Russell returned but the Karthik-Cummins duo kept the counter attck going looking for an unlikely victory. They were able to add 34 runs. The partnership fell apart when Karthik was trapped lbw by Ngidi.
But Cummins, on the other side of the wickets, was in excellent form. Nagarkoti witnessed the eighth wicket partnership flourish from one end as the Australian put on 30 runs with no contribution from his partner.
Varun Chakraborty and Prasidh Krishna, who came on after Nagercoil’s exit, were run out in an attempt to give Cummins strike. With this win, CSK climbed to the top of the points table. CSK, who had earlier lost the toss and opted to bat, put up a challenging total of 220 for three. Openers Faff Duplessis (95 *) and Ruthuraj Gaekwad (64) were the top scorers for CSK.
Du Plessis and Ruthuraj put on 115 for the opening wicket before KKR broke theri partnership. The CSK crossed the 200 mark as the latter continued to score fast runs. Moeen Ali 25 (12 balls, two fours, 2 sixes) and skipper MS Dhoni 17 (7 balls, 2 fours, 1 six) contributed well. At the end of the innings, Ravindra Jadeja (6 *) was at the crease with Du Plessis. Du Plessis hit nine fours and four sixes in 60 balls for CSK in his innings which also won him the Man of the Match award. Ruthuraj hit six fours and four sixes in 42 balls. Ruthuraj, who had struggled to find rhythm in the last three innings, was not seen in the match. From the start, the player kept firing shots to all sides of the ground. Ruthuraj was full of confidence from the start.
It was spinner Varun Chakravarthy who separated the Du Plessis-Ruthuraj opening pair, who advanced dangerously. Ruthuraj left the crease with a catch to Pat Cummins. But despite Ruthuraj’s return, CSK’s run rate did not go down. Du Plessis and Ali put on 50 for the second wicket.
Dhoni, who has played at number seven in the last three matches, shocked everyone this time by batting at number four. He stumbled a bit at first but then played some of the best shots. Dhoni’s six against Prasidh Krishna was reminiscent of his good old days. Du Plessis and Dhoni added 36 runs for the third wicket. The duo broke up when Morgan caught Dhoni with a diving catch as he tried to take a forward shot off the off stump of the bowling of Russell.
