Mumbai: Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) lower order put up a brave fight but could not get their team past the finishing line, as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat them by 18 runs in a high-scoring encounter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium here on Wednesday.With KKR reeling at 31/5 in 5.2 overs while chasing an imposing 221 for victory, it looked like CSK would win the match with ease.
However, Andre Russell (54 off 22 balls; 3×4, 6×6), Pat Cummins (66 not out off 34 balls; 4×4, 6×6) and Dinesh Karthik (40 off 24 balls; 4×4, 2×6) staged a remarkable fight back to take KKR to 201/9 in 19 overs. However, with 20 needed off the last over, last man Prasidh Krishna was run out off the first delivery as Cummins tried to steal a double to retain strike.
CSK’s 220/3 in 20 overs was built on Faf du Plessis’s unbeaten 95 off 60 balls (9×4, 4×6).
Cummins had earlier taken 30 off a Sam Curran over, while Russell had smacked Shardul Thakur for 24 runs in an over to light up the contest.
Dhoni, said, ‘Quite easy in a game like this. From the 16th over onwards the contest was between the fast bowler and the batsman. You can’t do too much. Can’t put different field. It’s about you vs me. The side that has won is a side that has executed slightly better. But if they would’ve had more wickets, could’ve been different. Have seen enough in cricket, always like to be humble. There’s no good reason if you have scored, the opposition can’t score. My lines to the players was that we have got good runs on the board but let’s be humble. You don’t want to take too many early wickets. Big hitters coming in, 200 runs, there’s only one way they’ll play. Not much you can do. The only option was Jadeja. It was turning, was a bit dry. The batting has been really good. Rutu is somebody who has shown his class in the last IPL. You always need to assess where he is mentally. Once when he was off guard, I just asked him how are you feeling today. When you put a question like that, you wait for the reactions, you see what’s in his eyes. There was enough in his reactions to suggest he wasn’t rattled. That’s what I’ve been doing all my life (applying psychology) but in a good way.’
KKR skipper Eoin Morgan, said ‘It’s (pulse) quite high at the moment. What a hell of a game of cricket. Certainly from the position we were in after our powerplay, we probably didn’t think we’d get as close as we did. But Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik really did put a partnership together, once you do that taking advantage of the conditions here, it’s very difficult to stop. A partnership going in that manner and then following that Pat Cummins the way he played really gave us every chance towards the end. Tremendous fight from our middle and lower order which is all you can ask for when you lose wickets upfront like that. The first five overs of our batting didn’t go our way. We didn’t play as well as would have liked. If we had built a partnership and taken advantage of those early overs going into those middle overs, we would have been in a really strong position. We can be happy with the way (we adapted to) new ground, different challenges. Going back to it now having watched our guys bat, I don’t think there was a great deal of margin of error. So we have to be a little bit kinder to our bowlers when we walk off. Having been hit for 220 and then nearly getting close, being five down very early, you have to be honest with the bowlers about execution. It does make a huge amount of difference but you really have to be on the money here. I tend to stay away from Andre after he’s got out. When he’s in the form like this, he’s as good a player as any in the tournament, particularly when he strikes the ball like that. It’s great that he’s been in this sort of form. it’s disappointing that the rest of us couldn’t help him out. He’ll obviously be disappointed.’
Faf du Plessis, Player of the Match, said, ‘This was the most fluent I’ve felt so far. Felt the previous game things started to get better. Tonight was another step. It’s about the rhythm of the flow of the hands. Few games before this and even tonight spinners were the best bowlers. Even Jadeja bowled well for us. The ball just grips a bit. We thought the seamers from the other side we can catch up. He’s a fantastic young talent (Gaikwad). Those first couple of balls you can feel on edge as a batter. Beautiful to see him trust the timing and the technique. For a small guy he hits the ball a long way. Been very lucky playing under MS for a long time. He knows what he’s doing, pleasure to play under him. There was dew tonight and then it was a proper batter’s game. That’s when he’s at his dangerous when he’s got nothing to lose (Russell).’