KOLKATA: Fifties from Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dubey and a blistering half-century partnership between the two helped Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 49 runs to top the points table in the Indian Premier League on Sunday. With the third wicket partnership of 85 runs in just 32 balls between Rahane (71 not out in 29 balls, five sixes, six fours) and Dubey (50 runs in 21 balls, two fours, five sixes), the Superkings scored 235 runs for four wickets. Made what is the highest score in T20 cricket at Eden Gardens. Apart from these two, opener Devon Conway (56) also scored a half-century.
Superkings collected 126 runs in the last eight overs. In response, the Knight Riders team could only manage 188 runs for eight wickets despite half-centuries from Jason Roy (61 runs in 26 balls, five sixes, five fours) and Rinku Singh (53 not out in 33 balls, three fours, four sixes). . Off-spinner Mahesh Teekshana took 32 wickets while Tushar Deshpande took two wickets for 43 runs from Superkings. With this win, the Super Kings have 10 points from five wins in seven matches and the team is at the top of the points table.
The Knight Riders team is at the eighth position with four points. Chasing the target, the Knight Riders got off to a bad start and the team lost the wickets of both openers Sunil Narine (00) and Narayan Jagadishan (01) in the second over to score just one run. Narayan was bowled by Akash Singh while Jagdishan caught Ravindra Jadeja off Tushar Deshpande. Captain Nitish Rana (27) and Venkatesh Iyer (20) took the team’s score to 38 for two in the power play. Moeen Ali trapped Iyer leg before with his first ball but Jason Roy started off with three consecutive sixes off the off-spinner.
Rana hit Jadeja’s first ball for a four but the next ball was played into the hands of Gaikwad, leaving the Knight Riders at 70 for four. Roy completed his team’s century in the 12th over with a six off off-spinner Mahesh Teekshana. Meanwhile, Rinku Singh also hit Jadeja for two sixes.
Roy completed his half-century in just 19 balls with a four off Mathisa Pathirana, the second fastest half-century of the season. Roy hit Teekshana for two consecutive fours in the 15th over but was bowled on the next ball. Knight Riders needed 99 runs in the last five overs. Deshpande’s next over yielded 19 runs in which Rinku hit two fours while Andre Russell hit a six. Pathirana then sent Russell (09) to the pavilion while giving only eight runs.
Deshpande scored 13 runs in the 18th of the innings but the fast bowler had David Voisey (01) lbw. Knight Riders needed 59 runs in the last two overs but despite losing the wicket of Umesh Yadav (04) in the 19th over of Teekshana, the team could manage only three runs, which ensured their defeat.
Rana won the toss and put the Super Kings into bat, after which Conway and Gaikwad (35) put on 73 runs in 7.3 overs to once again get the team off to a brisk start. Both added 59 runs in the power play without losing a wicket. Gaikwad opened the account with a four off Umesh Yadav’s first ball of the match and then hit the fast bowler for a six in the next over. Conway also took the ball to the visitors of David Voisey and Varun Chakraborty.
Gaikwad welcomed Narine with consecutive fours and sixes but was bowled by Suyash Sharma in the next over. He hit two fours and three sixes while facing 20 balls. Conway completed his fourth consecutive half-century in 34 balls with sixes on Narine and one run on Suyash. Rahane once again appeared in good rhythm. He hit fours in successive overs of Suyash. The team’s century was completed in the 11th over, but in the next over, Conway was caught by Voisey at long-off in an attempt to play a big shot off Varun Chakraborty. He hit four fours and three sixes while facing 40 balls.
Dubey hit Chakraborty for sixes in the last two balls of the 13th over while Rahane hit two sixes and a four in the first three balls of Umesh’s next over. Dubey took the team’s score past 150 runs in the 15th over with sixes and fours in consecutive balls of Vaisey. Rahane reached his half-century in 24 balls with a four off Andre Russell while Dubey achieved the feat in just 20 balls with a six off Khejroliya. Dubey, however, was caught by Jason Roy at long-off in an attempt to hit another six off Khejroliya’s next ball. Rahane kept the front.
He hit two sixes and a four in consecutive deliveries from Chakraborty in the 19th over while Ravindra Jadeja (18) hit Khejroliya for two sixes in the final over but then went back to the pavilion. While bowling economically, Suyash took one wicket for 29 runs but the rest of the bowling proved to be very expensive. Khejroliya (2/44) was the most successful bowler.
