Kolkata Knight Riders moves to third position in the eight-team standings of IPL after defeating CSK
Kolkata, May 4: Young Indian batsman Shubman Gill scored his maiden T20 half-century and powered the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a six-wicket win over table-toppers Chennai Super Kings on Thursday. In Match 33 of IPL 2018, played at the Eden Gardens, KKR restricted CSK to 177-5 and then chased down the runs in 17.4 overs. With this win, KKR climbed one place to number three while CSK slipped to number two.
KKR’s run-chase was set up by a cameo from Sunil Narine, who rode his luck to make 32 from 20 balls. Young Gill then batted responsibly and in the company of his captain Dinesh Karthik, saw his team past the finish line easily in the 18th over with the fifth wicket pair added 83 runs in six overs to seal the chase. Gill remained unbeaten on 57 made from 36 balls, while Karthik, who struck the winning boundary, finished with 45 against his name.
KKR were 56-2 in the powerplay and kept their foot on the accelerator, adding 85-2 in the middle nine overs. 39 runs in the following 2.4 overs as the hosts cantered past the finish line. Chennai Super Kings were sloppy in the field and paid for the lack of discipline in their bowling.
Ravindra Jadeja grassed two straightforward catches when Narine was still in single digits, and Ambati Rayudu put down Gill at deep point in the fifteenth over. The CSK bowlers were also guilty of bowling poor lines; apart from the seven wides bowled, there were several hit-me leg-stump balls.
Earlier in the evening, put into bat, CSK were provided a sound start by the opening pair of Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis, who added 48. The opening partnership was broken when du Plessis (27 from 15 balls) didn’t pick a googly from Piyush Chawla and was castled.
Watson added 43 in the company of Suresh Raina for the second wicket, before both batsmen were dismissed in consecutive overs; Watson (36 for 25 balls) hit a short one straight down the throat of midwicket, while Raina’s slog-sweep landed in the hands of the boundary rider at long-on.
Ambati Rayudu made 21 before he lost his stumps to Sunil Narine in the fifteenth over. MS Dhoni then provided the flourish scoring 43 from 25 balls. CSK were 90-1 at the half-way stage, and could only add 87 runs in the back half - 56 of those in the final five overs to finish at 177-5. The visitors took full toll of Mitchell Johnson’s pace though, scoring 51 runs off the pacer’s four overs.