CHENNAI: Kolkata Knight Riders spinners Varun Chakravarthy (2/36) and Sunil Narine (2/15) stole the limelight at the MA Chidambaram stadium as the spin duo, assisted by Suyash Sharma, helped the visiting team restrict Chennai Super Kings to 144/6 in 20 overs on Sunday.
Later, captain Nitish Rana (57 n.o) and in-form Rinku Singh (54) navigated a tricky situation to help the visitors get past the target with six wickets and nine balls to spare. KKR were reeling at 33/3 before the left-handed duo put on a partnership of 99 runs. This win helped KKR to stay in the playoff hunt.
Earlier in the first innings, CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway started with a bang playing medium-pacers Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana with ease. However, once the spinners came on, things went sideways with Gaikwad getting out trying to take on Varun. Ajinkya Rahane and Conway tried to stabilise the innings, but the local boy was in the thick of the action as he got rid of Rahane in the eighth over.
Soon, Narine took charge, dictating the pace of play on a surface that was assisting the spinners. First, he cleaned up Ambati Rayudu with a peach of a delivery, and five balls later, Narine castled Moeen Ali which was perhaps the ball of the match. It was vintage Narine in action as Moeen failed to read a brilliant carrom ball. All of a sudden, CSK were in a spot of bother, reduced to 72/5 in 11 overs.
Once Ravindra Jadeja joined Shivam Dube in the middle, the left-handed duo tried to take the game deep. Dube was clearly the one in charge as the franchise’s designated spin-hitter ensured that the runs came in singles and doubles. Jadeja, at the other end, struggled to middle the ball.
Jadeja eventually got out in the final over for a below-par innings of 20 runs off 24 balls to a massive cheer from the crowd who had been chanting ‘We want Dhoni’ for a while. MS Dhoni got to bat only three balls and was even bowled off a free hit because of Arora’s no ball, but he could not clear the ropes. Dube was the top-scorer as he made an unbeaten 34-ball 48 before being substituted by Matheesha Pathirana.
Brief scores: CSK 144/6 in 20 ovs (Dube 48 n.o; Narine 2/15, Varun 2/36) lost to KKR 147/4 in 18.3 ovs (Rana 57 n.o, Rinku 54; Deepak 3/27).