DD vs RR IPL 2018 Match Report: Kolkata bring down high flying Chennai

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by six wickets to move up to third place on the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table. Chasing a total of 177, KKR did not have to dig too deep for the victory as they reached 180 with six wickets in hand.

Chris Lynn (12) started off the run chase by hitting two sixes and then getting caught at slips all in the very first over. Uthappa then came in and watched as Narine was dropped twice by Jadeja off consecutive deliveries. Uthappa (8) lost his wicket in the fifth over to KM Asif, but Narine went on to add 32 from just 20 balls before Jadeja came back to atone for his mistake by dismissing him in the seventh over. Rinku Singh (16) lost his wicket to Harbhajan in the 12^th over following which skipper Karthik (45 off 18 balls) and Shubman Gill (57 off 36 balls) put up an unbeaten partnership of 83 runs to guide KKR to victory.

Catch all the highlights from the game here.

Earlier in the day, KKR won the toss and sent in CSK to bat. Openers Watson and du Plessis got their team off to a quick start adding 48 runs before du Plessis (27) was castled by a Piyush Sharma googly in the sixth over. Sunil Narine dismissed the dangerous looking Watson (36) in the 11^th over and Kuldeep Yadav accounted for Suresh Raina (31) in the 12^th. Narine then castled Rayudu (21) with a beautiful googly in the 15^th over to cap off a brilliant bowling spell by KKR. Dhoni then went on the attack as he added 43 off just 25 deliveries taking his team’s total to a competitive 177.

Find the full match scorecard here.

Turning point  

The turning point of the game was when KM Asif came on to bowl the 15^th over. At the start of the over KKR needed 58 runs from 36 balls to win. Shubman Gill who put in a brilliant batting display on the night picked up a double and hit the youngster for two sixes before bringing Karthik on strike who went on to hit Asif for yet another six as KKR scored 21 runs in that over. Following that onslaught they needed just 37 off 30 balls to win.

Best Dismissal

The best dismissal came in the first innings thanks to a moment of magic from ‘Man of the Match’ Sunil Narine. Narine sent in a googly to ‘Orange cap’ holder Rayudu who was caught completely unaware as the ball sneaked in between his bat and pads to crash onto his stumps dismissing the dangerous batsman.

Batsman of the Match

Youngster Shubman Gill who was sent in to bat higher up the order due to an injury sustained by Nitish Rana was without doubt the batsman of the match. He put up a display of some brilliantly timed shots as he went on to score an unbeaten 57 off 36 balls. The maturity he exhibited in the center against top quality bowlers will delight every Indian cricket fan who will be excited about what is to come from the talented youngster in the future.

Bowler of the Match

Sunil Narine who ended the night with figures of 2/20 with an economy of just 5.00 after four overs is our pick for bowler of the match. He picked up the important wickets of Watson and Rayudu, both of whom are batsmen who can single handedly decide the outcome of a game and put a lid on the free scoring batting attack of CSK.

Captain’s views

Dinesh Karthik (KKR captain), “Credit to the management to have taken so many Under 19 players. We were a little harsh on Gill earlier, but he's hit first-ball boundaries in the past too, so he's been good. Don't want to hype him up so he doesn't feel the added pressure, but he's special. Our bowlers were confident today, and they wanted to bowl, so I was happy to put their batsmen under pressure. We finished quickly because both were set, and T20 is such that you need to be pushing boundaries when you have momentum. Sunil's a thorough all-rounder, and he bowls the better overs for us.”

MS Dhoni (CSK captain), “We have to look at what our strength with the bowlers was. It was important to hit the seam, but the pitch was better in the second innings. Overall disappointed with the loss, especially with the bowling department. The fielding, I knew how we'd field, but what was bad was the way the fielders reacted. You need to give extra when you are slow. Classic example was Michael Hussey. That's the commitment we needed, but we knew from the start how our fielding will be. No one was bowling well, so I shuffled the bowlers towards the end. They have to maneuver their pace and line a bit. They need to be aware of the batsman's strength, or if they're under pressure.”

What’s next

Kolkata will travel to Mumbai for their next fixture when they take on the Mumbai Indians on Sunday. Chennai head back to their adopted home ground, Pune to take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday.

Points table

With this win, Kolkata move up to third on the table tied on 10 points with Kings XI Punjab but ahead due to their net run rate. Chennai dropped down to second as Hyderabad move up to top spot.