In the KKR VS CSK game, Chennai’s Deepak Chahar’s 4-wicket spell trumped KKR’s Pat Cummins and Andre Russell innings. Chasing 220 runs, KKR met with a bad start and yet with a little help of Cummins and Russell came close, but remained far.
CSK Inning Highlight
KKR skipper Eoin Morgan made a decision for which no prizes ought to have given for guessing. Morgan decided to bowl first and stayed true to the tradition of chasing at Wankhede. Gaikwad, who has been quite inconsistent so far in this tournament came back and played a cracker of an inning. Gaikwad gave an indication of his intent in the 2nd over of the game, hitting a boundary and a six off Cummins.
Meanwhile du Plessis also looked to be in equally good zone, hitting a boundary or a maximum in each over he was made to face the ball. In the 4th over it was Varun Chakravarthy who faced similar fate like Cummins and bled 12 runs. Soon CSK raced to 54/0 by the end of the powerplay, with 7 boundaries and 2 maximums.
Gaikwad continued his onslaught and brought his half-century in style when he hit Kamlesh Nagarkoti for a huge six. He then smoked Prasidh Krishna for a boundry and six and took his team past the 100-run mark in the 12th over. However, it was Varun Chakravarthy that finally broke the 115-run opening stand as he dismissed Gaikwad for his well-played 64 off 42.
Du Plessis, who had completed his half-century on the other end was joined by Moeen Ali. The England spinner continued from where he left things in the last game and played the role of aggressor. In his 25-run inning he hit 2 boundaries and 2 maximums. His inning was cut short thanks to Narine who made him come out of the crease and had him stumped.
After Ali it was Dhoni who joined du Plessis. Dhoni reminded all the fans and KKR bowlers what he is made of. He hit a classic boundary off Narine and then took Prasidh Krishna for a punishing, slamming a 4 and a 6 off him. In the next over it was du Plessis’ turn to turn the heat up as he went after Russell for a hattrick of boundaries.
Dhoni was about to take the gloves off and go berserk when Eoin Morgan grabbed a beautiful catch at extra cover to send CSK skipper to the dressing room for 17 off 8.
All the eyes were set on du Plessis’ century in the final over. And the chances increased when he hit Cummins for 2 huge maximums and reached 94. Although in the 5th delivery he ran on the other end gave the strike to Jadeja. Jadeja happily obliged and hit another six off Cummins and took his team to 221.
KKR Inning Highlight
Chasing 221, KKR’s path was laden with trouble and the team could not have asked for a worse beginning. CSK’s Chahar was on a firy spell as he dismissed Shubman Gill for a golden duck in the 4th over of the first over.
Nitish Rana tried to open his arms and hit a couple of boundaries off Curran. But his cameo came to an end as he edged a Chahar’s delivery which was caught by CSK skipper Dhoni.
Seeing how Chahar was on fire, Dhoni handed him the ball to bowl the 4th over and Chahar delivered. Chahar scalped the wicket of Morgan who gave an outside edge to the delivery and deposited it to Dhoni’s gloves. Chahar’s hunt continued as he sent Narine packing thanks to an exceptional piece of fielding by Jadeja at the covers who caught the ball.
Trouble seemed to be KKR’s only friend and it was back again in the next Ngidi over when Rahul Tripathi was lured to edge a short ball and have it caught by Dhoni. Chasing a target that was above 200, KKR met with a disastrous start and was reeling at 31/5.
With half the side perished, Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik starting to contribute one over at a time. Russell let his intentions know from the start as he hit two consecutive boundaries and a maximum in the first few balls he faced. Thanks to Russell and Karthik KKR dominated the middle phase of the game. Karthik and his West-Indian partner stitched together a partnership of 81 runs off just 39 balls.
Russell who was looking to take his team closer to victory was finally dismissed by Curran, bowled out. The West Indian aggressor played a combative inning of 54 off 22 that consisted of 6 sixes and 4 boundaries.
However, Karthik never chose to put his foot away from the pedal and continued is attack. He smashed another six and then a boundary in one over. But Ngidi trapped him leg before and that was the end of the 40-run inning in the 15th over.
With 7 wickets down at 146 and still more than 50 runs needed, it looked like KKR would crumble any time. But that was not the case as it was Cummins who went berserk and went after Curran in an over that brought KKR 30 runs. Cummins was hit all over the ground with 4 maximums and one boundry by Cummins.
By the end Cummins also put up his half-century on the board that came in 23 balls. CSK was clearly looking shaken by the end and it was clearly visible in Thakur’s over which consisted of 3 wides. With 28 now needed in 12, Varun Chakravarthy’s decision to take 2 runs did him good as he was run out. Cummins was still holding fort but CSK just needed one more scalp to end the game. The last wicket came in the form of another run-out in the ultimate over and KKR was all out for 202, just 18 runs short of the target.
