CSK vs KKR Highlights: Nitish Rana,Rinku singh Keep KKR Hope Alive For Playoffs
The left-handers shared a 99-run stand to set up six-wicket win after Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy restricted CSK to 144/6
Crickate
CSK vs KKR Highlights: Sunday in Chennai, India, skipper Nitish Rana (57*) and Rinku Singh (54) struck responsible fifties to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to a six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings, preserving their chances of reaching the Indian Premier League playoffs.
Nitish and Rinku forged a 99-run partnership to set up KKR's victory. Spinners Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine prevented CSK from scoring in the middle overs by reversing their momentum at regular intervals. With nine deliveries remaining, Nitish and Andre Russell scored the winning runs for their team.
KKR's top-order batsmen found methods to be dismissed, resulting in a lackluster chase beginning. Rahmanullah Gurbaz pursued Deepak Chahar's wide half-volley to find Tushar Deshpande at deep point. Venkatesh Iyer, who had previously struck Chahar for two fours in four deliveries, was then forced to play a backfoot cut that was caught by Ravindra Jadeja at short third man.
When Jason Roy chased a wide slower delivery that he dug out to Mathew Pathirana at short third man to reduce KKR to 33/3, it was evident that Chahar was bowling to a plan. However, Nitish and Rinku joined forces to methodically eliminate the runs by relying on their off-side game.
Restricting CSK to their lowest score of the IPL on a tacky, difficult-to-pass-through pitch was only half the battle. While Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway were batting, CSK averaged nearly 10 runs per over. Chakaravarthy utilized his experience to deceive Gaikwad with a leg-break before luring Ajinkya Rahane into skipping down the pitch and miscuing a quicker arm delivery to Roy at long-off.
Chakaravarthy said during the innings break, "I've been working on my leg spin, so it's good to see that it worked out."
After those two strikes, CSK's innings began to deteriorate. CSK struggled from 68/3 at the halfway mark to 92/5 after 15 overs, scoring only one four and one six during this time. The majority of the damage was inflicted by Narine, who bowled his entire allotment after the Powerplay without allowing a single boundary while dismissing Ambati Rayudu and Moeen Ali for playing across the line.
This brought Jadeja to the crease, but he was unable to time the ball effectively, with the exception of pushing Suyash Sharma over backward square leg. Shivam Dube was not allowed to bat until the fifth position, but he was the only batter to benefit from his perseverance.
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Dube scored two sixes off Sharma and Chakaravarthy to help CSK conclude with 52 runs in the last five overs — their most productive phase despite MS Dhoni's inability to hit a boundary during his three-ball stay. Five runs off the 19th and nine runs off the final over nearly paved the way for KKR's batters to keep them in playoff contention.
CSK is second in the table with one game remaining, while KKR is seventh on 12 points, the same as RCB and RR.
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