In the 49th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 bottom-placed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) registered a thrilling win over the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Out of the reckoning of the playoffs for the first time, CSK entered into the game as party-poopers, and they did it owing to some brilliant knocks by Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja. Having won the toss, MS Dhoni invited the Knight Riders to bat.

Sent in to bat, KKR got off to a solid start with Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana adding 53 runs for the first wicket. Rana played a fiery knock of 87 runs off just 61 balls and a late burst helped his team to reach a total of 172 for five. Following Rana’s 61-ball effort, cameos from skipper Eoin Morgan (15 off 12) and Dinesh Karthik (21 not out off 10) allowed KKR to put up a competitive total. Gill looked in good in fine touch and hit four boundaries before falling to leggie Sharma.

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Sunil Narine (7), who came to bat at number three, smashed the second ball for a six and fell four balls later, unable to clear a Mitchell Santner delivery with Ravindra Jadeja taking the catch. KKR decided to send Rinku Singh, who was picked for the first time this season, ahead of Morgan at number four, but he was nothing but a failure.CSK, who pulled things back in the middle overs after a fine start from KKR openers Rana and Shubman Gill (26 off 17), as they conceded as many as 66 runs in the last five overs. 

Lungi Ngidi (2/34) was the best bowler for CSK while Sam Curran also bowled well early on. The KKR innings was well supported by Rana’s knock which comprised 10 fours, four sixes. Rana hit three consecutive sixes off Karn Sharma in the 16th over to up the ante as KKR looked for quick runs. 

Though CSK got off to a decent start as the openers Shane Watson and Ruturaj Gaikwad added 50 runs, they scoring runs at 7.3 overs. Watson (14 from 19) was struggling, and eventually, was dismissed by Varun Chakravarthy. What followed was another promising 68-run stand between Ambati Rayudu and Gaikwad as they smashed the KKR bowlers all-over the park.

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When the going was merry, Rayudu was dismissed by Pat Cummins and KKR made their way back in the game as Chakravarthy cleaned up MS Dhoni for just 1, and Gaikwad (72 from 53) was then dismissed by Cummins. CSK had their hopes lying on Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja, who smacked Lockie Ferguson for 20 runs in the penultimate over to bring it down to 10 required from 6. The young Nagarkoti managed to keep things quiet for the first four balls, but then Jadeja happened, who smashed two back-to-back sixes. 

Hits

Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja smacked Lockie Ferguson for 20 runs in the penultimate over to bring it down to 10 required from 6. The young Nagarkoti managed to keep things quiet for the first four balls, but then Jadeja happened, who smashed two back-to-back sixes.

Ruturaj Gaikwad

Ruturaj Gaikwad scored his second IPL half-century before the bowlers did a brilliant job to restrict the opposition. He continued to bat with composure in the middle overs and was joined by Ambati Rayudu who made his intentions clear from the first ball. Gaikwad scored unbeaten on 72 with the help of six 4s and a couple of 6s.

Flops

Lockie Ferguson

After delivering a brilliant spell in the game against SRH, Lockie Ferguson never managed to get his line right against the CSK batsmen. He conceded as many as 54 runs in his spell of four overs.