MUMBAI: An anchor knock of 95 runs from Faf du Plessis and half-century from Ruturaj Gaikwad guided the Chennai Super Kings to 220/3 in their allotted 20 overs against Kolkata Knight Riders here at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
After being asked to bat first, Gaikwad and Du Plessis provided a solid foundation to the side. The openers gave the flying start to the side and played their shots freely all-around the park.
The duo guided the side to the three-figure mark in no time as both the batsmen were on song. They added 115-run for the first wicket. Meanwhile, Gaikwad completed his fifth IPL half-century off 33 balls after a poor form in the first three games.
In the 13th over, spinner Varun Chakravarthy dismissed Gaikwad on 64 runs and got the first breakthrough of the match. His knock was studded with four sixes and six fours.After Gaikwad's dismissal, Moeen Ali joined the party and kept the scoring rate steady. Meanwhile, Du Plessis also scripted his fifty off 35 balls.
Moeen sticks to his role and played a knock of 25 off 12 including two sixes and as many fours. Moeen stitched a 50-run partnership with Du Plessis off 27 balls. Moeen was picked by Sunil Narine in the 17th over.
CSK skipper MS Dhoni promoted himself up in the order and came in to bat at number four. He along with Du Plessis kept the scoring high. Dhoni played a quickfire knock of 17 off seven balls before he was sent back to the pavilion by Andre Russell in the 19th over.
Ravindra Jadeja remained unbeaten on six runs after sending the last ball of the innings over the rope. In the last five overs, CSK batters accumulated 70 runs as KKR failed to find momentum in their favour. Du Plessis remained unbeaten on 95 runs off 60 balls including four sixes and nine fours.
For KKR, Narine, Russell and Chakravarthy bagged one wicket each.
Brief Scores: CSK 220/3 (Faf du Plessis 95*, Ruturaj Gaikwad 64; Sunil Narine 1-34) vs KKR