Nitesh Rana, Rinku Singh shine in KKR’s win over CSK by 6 wickets

CHENNAI: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Chennai Super Kings by 6 wickets in a vital Indian Premier League match at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday to keep hopes alive to reach the next stage. This was their sixth win from 13 matches. Chennai Super Kings maintained the second spot despite today’s loss.

Electing to bat first, Shivam Dube continued his good six-hitting form by smashing 48 not out to take Chennai Super Kings to 144/6. KKR reached the target in 18.3 overs losing 4 wickets.

Dube's unbeaten 48 off 34 balls, which included one four and three sixes, helped Chennai get some valuable runs on a challenging pitch. For Kolkata, Sunil Narine and local boy Varun Chakaravarthy bowled well to take two wickets each to keep Chennai to their lowest total of IPL 2023.

Openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway looked at ease in driving, cutting, and flicking off fast bowlers Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana to pick three fours in the first three overs.

After Gaikwad swept Chakaravarthy for four, the leg-spinner bounced back when he found a turn on leg-break which the right-handed batter tried to slog and top-edge flew to short third man.

Chennai plunged into trouble when Conway got a top edge on the pull off Shardul Thakur and was caught by deep square-leg in the tenth over. In the next over, an off-break from Sunil Narine went past Ambati Rayudu's sweep and crashed into the stumps, while his carrom ball beat Moeen Ali's inside edge to leave the stumps in a mess.

Dube ended a 41-ball no-boundary spree by launching an overpitched delivery from Suyash Sharma over extra cover for six. But Narine, Suyash and Chakaravarthy controlled the run flow by giving only 11 runs collectively from overs 13, 14 and 15.

After Jadeja ramped a bouncer straight to short third man off Arora in the final over, Kolkata conceded only four runs on the last two balls, including a wide and no-ball, as Chennai picked only 14 runs off the last two overs.

In reply, Kolkata Knight Riders lost three quick wickets in powerplay. Deepak Chahar claimed Jason Roy (12), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (1) and Venkatesh Iyer (9). But Nitish Rana and in-form Rinku Singh took the game away from CSK. Both added 99 runs from 77 balls to earn three vital points for their team. Rinku ran out due to a direct hit from Moeen Ali after scoring 54 from 43 balls. Rana remained unbeaten at 57 from 44 balls.

Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 144/6 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 48 not out, Devon Conway 30; Sunil Narine 2-15, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-36) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 147/4 in 18.3 overs (Nitish Rana 57no, Rinku Singh 54, Deepak Chahar 3/27).

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