IPL 2018, Match 5, CSK v KKR, – Chennai Prevail in a Nail-Biting Thriller at Home
Apr 14, 2018 at 8:03 PM
The yellow brigade had a yet another cliffhanger, but for the 2nd time in succession, they held their nerves and won a nail-biting thriller.
It was a brilliant half-century off 21 deliveries by Sam Billings which helped Chennai chase the mammoth total of 200 with a delivery to spare. Earlier, it was a breathtaking knock of 88 of 36 balls by Andre Russell which helped KKR post a commendable total of 202 on the board.
It was Chennai Super Kings skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni who won the toss and elected to bowl.
The familiar duo of Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn walked out in the middle to begin proceedings. Narine smashed his first three deliveries for two gigantic sixes, as KKR raced to 18 of the opening over of Deepak Chahar.
However, he was dismissed in the very next over of Harbhajan Singh, as he attempted yet another big shot. It was Suresh Raina who held on to a stunning catch. Chris Lynn continued the onslaught and helped KKR go past the 50-mark. He was dismissed at the stroke of 50, as Ravindra Jadeja castled him with a straighter delivery.
Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa started rebuilding the innings, but a flurry of wickets stemmed the run flow of KKR. They had lost half their side in the 10th over with the score reading 89. From there on it was blitz by Andre Russell which never really made KKR feel the loss of five wickets at the end of the 10th over mark.
He was in his murderous best and kept plundering the CSK bowlers to all parts of the ground. Sixes came flowing from his bat. He smashed his fellow Trinidadian, Dwayne Bravo for three consecutive sixes.
By the time he finished with a score of 88, Russell had smashed 11 sixes and a four during his 26 balls innings.
Chasing a big total, Chennai went off to a blistering start, courtesy Amabti Rayudu and Shane Watson. They went berserk from the outset and never really allowed the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers to settle down.
Shane Watson smashed Vinay Kumar for 16 runs in the opening over to begin proceedings. By the time Watson got dismissed by Tom Curran, CSK had raced off to 75 in just the 6th over.
It was some sensational bowling by Kuldeep Yadav and Sunil Narine which stemmed the run flow for CSK in the middle overs. They found it difficult to go for the big shots which didn’t allow them to the momentum.
However, it was MS Dhoni who smashed a four and a six off consecutive deliveries of Kuldeep Yadav to get his groove going. He was eventually dismissed by Piyush Chawla. However, his dismissal didn’t really matter for Sam Billings, as he kept spanking the KKR bowlers all around the park. He raced off to a 21-ball half-century and kept his franchise in the game. Despite his dismissal in the penultimate over, Chennai chased the total down in the end with a delivery to go.
Vinay Kumar was handed the final over with 17 runs required. He was smashed for a six off a no ball in the very first delivery to get things down to 10 required off the last six.
It was Ravindra Jadeja who smashed a huge six with four required off the last two to seal the deal for CSK.
Brief Scores
Kolkata Knight Riders 202/6 in 20 overs (Andre Russell 88*, Shane Watson 2/39)
Chennai Super Kings 205/5 in 19.5 overs (Sam Billing 56, Shane Watson 42, Tom Curran 2/39)
Chennai Super Kings won by five wickets (with a delivery to spare)
Here’s the Newsfeed:
IPL 2018 : Twitter Erupts As Chennai Super Kings Beat Kolkata Knight Riders In A Thriller
IPL 2018: Watch – Andre Russell Smashes the Ball for a 105 M Hit