Press Trust of India
Chennai, April 28: Dwayne Bravo (3/22), Ravi Ashwin (2/5) and Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina (23 runs in their six overs) bowled brilliantly to help hosts Chennai Super Kings (CSK) overcome Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by two runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here Tuesday. CSK after scoring 134 for the loss of six wickets used the pitch which was double-paced, restricted the Knights to 132 for nine to emerge victorious.
But then KKR must blame themselves at the way their batsmen committed hara kiri. On a pitch, that was difficult to settle down, batsmen after batsmen threw their wickets away. Worse, Yusuf Pathan (13, 18b) was not willing to runs singles and convert ones into twos. It was his inactivity that forced Surya Kumar Yadav (16, 26b, 1×4) to throw his wicket away –alebeit a brilliant 20-metre running catch by Dwayne Bravo running in from long-on.
Earlier, the KKR bowlers also used the pitch well restrict the Kings. Andre Russell and Piyush Chawla (both 2/26) and Brad Hogg (1/18) also bowled brilliantly to strangle the free-scoring batsmen of CSK.
The hosts started off brilliantly with Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith putting on 42. McCullum was particularly severe on Umesh Yadav hitting the pacer for two boundaries in the bowler’s fast over. But when Chawla came on to bowl in the fifth over of the innings, McCullum after hitting the bowler for a six failed to read a googly and was caught plumb in front. After his dismissal quite a few batsmen got starts but failed to convert them into substantial scores.
Brief scores: CSK 134 for 6 (Faf du Plessis 29 n o, Piyush Chawla 2/26) beat KKR 132 for 9 (Ryan ten Doeschate 38 n o, Dwayne Bravo 3/22) by two runs.
