ABU DHABI: Former skipper Dinesh Karthik's late cameo and Nitish Rana's steady long handle took Kolkata Knight Riders to a par-score of 171 for 6 against Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League encounter on Sunday.
Seamer Shardul Thakur (2/20 in 4 overs) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/21 in 4 overs) performed impressively to keep KKR under leash till the 13th over when they were 93 for 4.
However, the last seven overs yielded 78 runs and KKR were able to put on a more than fighting score largely due to Sam Curran (0/56 in 4overs) leaking runs at the back end.
Even Josh Hazlewood (2/40 in 4 overs) got a bit of stick helping KKR's cause.
The platform was laid by Rahul Tripathi (45 off 33), who hit four boundaries and one six but it was the CSK bowlers, who kept making inroads and did not allow the KKR batsmen to either free their arms or settle down.
Opting to bat, Kolkata lost opener Shubman Gill (9) in the first over after a horrible mix-up with Venkatesh Iyer.
One-down, Tripathi and in-form Venkatesh Iyer (18) tried to resurrect the innings but the southpaw was unable to convert his start after he nicked one to Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Thakur.
Tripathi, who fetched his first boundary, an imperious pull shot over mid-wicket, also got a 'life' after the ball on which he had nicked, was adjudged as a 'no ball'.
Off the very next one, he smashed his first maximum over deep extra cover.
Skipper Eoin Morgan (8) also fell cheaply as he holed to Du Plessis off Josh Hazlewood as KKR was in a spot of bother at 70/3.
Tripathi also fell in the 13th over, as he was cleaned up by left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja as KKR slipped to 89/4.
Then Andre Russell (20) took on Sam Curran in the 15th over, smacking two fours and a monstrous six, as KKR fetched 14 runs.
But Shardul Thakur forced Russell to drag one back onto his stumps.
Then it was the Rana and Karthik show that took them past 170.