MS Dhoni strengthened his legacy even further by adding the fourth Premier League title in his cabinet on Friday night. CSK hammered KKR by 27 runs in the final on the back of a complete team performance.
Faf du Plessis was the main man for CSK, batting through with his outstanding 86 off 59, while Robin Uthappa and Moeen Ali played crucial cameos to take the team to 192/3 on the big day. All the CSK bowlers were amongst the wickets – inspired by Shardul Thakur’s 3/38 – as they restricted KKR to 165/9.
Eoin Morgan won the toss and was elected to field first. CSK’s in-form opening duo provided them with a solid start as they put 50 runs on the board at the end of the powerplay.
Sunil Narine provided KKR with a breakthrough in the ninth over as Ruturaj Gaikwad holed out to long-off on 32 off 27. CSK had slowed down a bit since the restrictions were lifted, but Uthappa’s arrival at the crease changed things drastically. He took on the spinners and smashed three sixes in route to his momentum-changing knock of 31 off 15.
On the other end, du Plessis took on the pace of Lockie Ferguson to bring up his half century off 35 balls. Uthappa was dismissed off Narine, trapped LBW trying to play a reverse sweep. The next batter in, Moeen Ali took over from Uthappa left off and played a blinder of his own.
The former England international smashed Shivam Mavi and Varun Chakravarthy, in particular, to score 37 off just 20. Du Plessis was caught at long-on on the last ball of the innings for a fine knock.
The Knight Riders had a daunting task ahead of them, especially with in-form Rahul Tripathi suffering a hamstring injury. But their opening duo kept them in the hunt. Venkatesh Iyer continued his impressive season and played at a brisk rate. Shubman Gill, at the other end, struggled to score freely.
The duo scored 55 runs at the end of the powerplay. Iyer brought up his 50 off just 31 balls but was dismissed on the next ball off Thakur’s bowling as Ravindra Jadeja took a fine catch that went miles into the air. At Iyer’s fall, KKR needed 102 runs off 56 balls but followed was a massive collapse. In Thakur’s same over, Nitish Rana chipped one full delivery straight to mid-off for a golden duck.
Narine, who was promoted up the order, was dismissed by Josh Hazlewood’s short length delivery as he found Jadeja at deep midwicket. Gill, scoring 51 off 43, tried to scoop Deepak Chahar but missed the ball and was trapped LBW. Dinesh Karthik pulled his first ball for a six but was caught out off a rank half tracker from Jadeja on 9 off 7.
Shakib Al Hasan was trapped in front of the stumps by Jadeja on the very next ball. Tripathi walked out to bat despite the injury, however, he holed out to long-on on his third ball. Morgan, in his rut, timed a pull shot well, but Chahar took an outstanding catch at fine leg to send the KKR skipper back on four off 8.
The Knight Riders lost eight wickets for 34 runs as their hopes for the third title vanished in front of their eyes. Ferguson (18* off 11) and Shivam Mavi (20 off 13) smashed a few boundaries and showed it was a great deck to bat on. Thakur picked three wickets while Hazlewood, Jadeja snared two each.
Brief Scores
Chennai Super Kings – 192/3 in 20 overs (du Plessis 86, Ali 37*; Sunil Narine 2/26)
Kolkata Knight Riders – 165/9 in 20 overs (Gill 51, Iyer 50; Thakur 3/38, Hazlewood 2/29)
CSK won by 27 runs.
