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Abu Dhabi: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) made a superb comeback in the second half of the second innings to seal a 10-run win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their IPL encounter, Wednesday.
Chasing 168, CSK were 90/1 at the end of the 10th over. However some sloppy batting at the death overs, especially from Kedar Jadhav, cost them the points. Jadhav scored 7 off 12 balls including a boundary.
Shane Watson (50, 40b, 6×4, 1×6) and Ambati Rayudu (30, 27b, 3×4) put CSK in a wonderful position after losing Faf du Plessis (17) early. The duo added 69 runs before Rayudu got out off a Kamlesh Nagarkoti (1/21) delivery with CSK’s scoreboard reading 99/2 in 12.1 overs.
Rayudu’s dismissal triggered the middle order collapse. Sam Curran (11-ball 17) played a cameo, while MS Dhoni (12) got out cheaply. Then Jadhav’s struggle dashed all the hopes of a win. Ravindra Jadeja (21 n o) finished the innings with three boundaries – 6, 4 & 4 – in the final over, but it was too little, too late.
Earlier, CSK staged a remarkable comeback after opener Rahul Tripathi’s (81, 51b, 8×4, 3×6) splendid innings, to bowl out KKR for 167.
Batting first, KKR lost three wickets in the last over with Dwayne Bravo (3/37) removing two of them. Bravo, a CSK veteran, celebrated his 37th birthday by returning impressive figures in his quota of four overs.
Tripathi enjoyed his promotion to the top with an excellent fifty but CSK bowlers applied the brakes to bundle out KKR.
At 93/2 at the midway stage, KKR looked set for a big score but Bravo struck after that. Leg-spinner Karn Sharma (2/25), Shradul Thakur (2/28), Sam Curran (2/26) claimed two wickets each as the MS Dhoni-led side bounced back in the back 10 by taking eight wickets while giving away just 74 runs. Dhoni picked up four catches, the last one being his best effort.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 167 (Rahul Triptahi 81; Dwayne Bravo 3/37, Karn Sharma 2/25, Sam Curran 2/26, Shardul Thakur 2/28) beat Chennai Super Kings 157/5 (Shane Watson 50, Ambati Rayudu 30; Andre Russell 1/18) by 10 runs.
