CHENNAI: T20 World Cup hero Sanju Samson's 48 at the top of the order and useful knocks by Ayush Mhatre (38 off 17 balls) and Dewald Brevis (41 off 29 balls) came in handy for Chennai Super Kings to post 192/5 in 20 overs against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday.
Samson and Mhatre raised 47 runs off just 22 balls for the second wicket and laid the platform for the middle-order batters to exploit. Later a brilliant piece of spin bowling by Noor Ahmed (3/21) cut through the KKR middle-order and forced the visitors into submission. CSK won by 32 runs.
This is CSK's second consecutive win at home. For KKR, their search for a win continues, as they lose their fourth match.
Set a target on 193 for a win, KKR did not have the best of starts as they lost opener Finn Allen cheaply. The Kiwi miscued a pull shot which was held at covers by Shivam Dube with Anshul Kamboj picking up the prized scalp. Soon, Sunil Narine too departed after making a quickfire 24.
Thereafter KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi added 50 runs in 31 balls for the third wicket. This was the only phase where the visitors could manage a stand. The spinners for the hosts dazzled. Akeal Hosein and Noor Ahmad bowled brilliantly to pack KKR's middle-order back in the dug-out. Hosein accounted for Angkrish, while Ahmad picked the wickets of Rahane, Green and Rinku.
Noor foxed Green with a quicker delivery to castle the Aussie, who was in two minds to play the ball. Noor was aggressive, he bowled a probing and was looking for wickets rather containing the KKR batters. This bore rich dividends.
Earlier, CSK started with a bang with Samson scoring three consecutive boundaries in the point area off Vaibhav Arora. He erred in line and length around the off peg and the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter used the pace and bounce of the ball to score runs freely. The century in the previous game against Delhi has certainly boosted his confidence. His opening partner and CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad fell for a paltry score of 7.
Ruturaj went for a slog sweep off Anukul Roy which fell to the hands of Rovman Powell at deep mid-wicket. His lean-patch this season continues.
Mhatre joined Samson at the wicket and got into the act straight away. The U19 World Cup-winning captain scored boundaries at will and his back-to-back sixes off Cameron Green had the crowd on their feet. Later, he struck a hat-trick of boundaries off Arora before his innings came to an end in the last ball of the over. His ambitious pull was held nicely by Ramandeep Singh at deep mid-wicket. Mhatre made 38 off just 17 balls and helped his team make 72 runs inside the power play. After the power play, Rahane brought his mystery spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy into the attack.
Both Samson and Proteas batter Dewald Brevis played with caution, scoring the odd boundary. Both the batters chose to rotate the strike with singles. Veteran Narine varied the angles and did not give room for the batters to play the shots. Varun went wicketless (0/26) but ensured he kept his lines tight. In the next over bowled by Kartik Tyagi, Samson used his feet well and carted him over long off for a huge six. The very next ball, Samson attempted a similar shot, only for the stumps to be castled. Then, Sarfaraz Khan joined Brevis and combined well to keep the scoreboard ticking. The duo kept scoring boundaries on a regular basis, with Brevis punishing Varun.
Arora was brought back into attack and he proved to be expensive as the pair continued to score sixes at will. Sarfaraz whacked the Himachal Pradesh pacer, who bowled a length ball on the slot over the square leg fence. Then, Narine was given the ball by his captain and the veteran repaid his faith by dismissing Sarfaraz.
Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 192/5 in 20 ovs (Sanju Samson 48, Dewald Brevis 41; Sunil Narine 1/21) bt Kolkata Knight Riders 160/7 in 20 ovs (Ramandeep 35; Noor 3/21, Kamboj 2/32).
