Despite the absence of Narine from both the games between CSK and KKR, the MOMs were West Indies players. At Chennai, Dwayne Bravo was the MOM and now Andre Russell took KKR home. Absence of Narine and Ashwin might have disappointed the fans, but bowlers of Kolkata Knight Riders ensured Narine is not missed as they restricted the strong Chennai Super Kings to just 165 runs, and then Uthappa and Russell ensured a comfortable win with a ball to spare. Russell was declared the player of the match for his all round performance as KKR returned to third place.
Indian Premier League 2015: Schedule and Results
CSK Score 165/9
Sent to bat first, on the first ball CSK lost Dwayne Smith. But McCullum punished Cummins for taking the wicket of his partner scoring as CSK got 18 runs from the over. He continued further punishing Cummins further as he jumped to 12-ball 32 runs with 3 6s and 3 4s, and was looking set for grabbing the Orange Cap. Raina could score only 8 runs with 2 boundaries of Umesh Yadav, who ultimately had the last laugh in 4th over. Even Faf du Plessis with 11-ball 20 runs hitting 5 4s made clear the bang bang strategy of CSK. They were 64/2 in just 5 overs.
Narine’s replacement Brad Hogg proved his worth as he sent McCullum and Faf both back in the same over. In the next over Chawla bowled Dhoni who could score only 1 run. CSK had scored 72 runs in 7 overs but had lost 5 wickets.
Bravo and Jadeja consolidated the innings adding 57 runs in 57 balls. As they started increasing the run rate Bravo (32-balll 30 runs with 4 4s) was bowled by Russell. Pawan Negi, replacement of Ashwin took all by surprise scoring 1300ball 27 runs with a six and 4 4s. Hogg again came to KKRs rescue sending Jadeja and Negi back in 19th over. In the last over Russell got the wicket of Mohit Sharma (0) as Nehra and debutant Ronit More took CSK to 165/9.
For KKR, Cummins started the flow of wickets but was most expensive with 1/54. Umesh Yadav (1/16 in 2) was not required to bowl as Piyush Chawla (1/21 in 4), Hogg (4/29 in 4) and Russell (2/20 in 4) pushed CSK to backfoot. Yusuf Pathan bowled the remaining 2 overs for 11 runs.
KKR Win by 7 Wickets with a Ball to Spare
Mohit Sharma and Ashish Nehra bowled first 6 overs as KKR could score only 38/1 with Gambhir failing again scoring only 19 runs in 16 balls (2 6s). Manish pandey (3) and Surya Yadav (2) fell to the the guile of Negii and debutant More respectively. With almost a 100 required from last 10 overs, KKR fans might have remembered the defeat they faced against CSK few days before at Chennai. But, Uthappa (58-ball 80 with 7 4s and a six) and Russell (32-ball 55 with 4 4s and 4 6s) added unbeaten 112 run for the fourth wicket and in the end they win comfortably with 5 a ball remaining scoring 169/3.
For CSK Mohit Sharma with 1/22 amd replacement of Ashwin, Negi with 1/23 were the best bowlers. Debutant More with 1/31 in 3.5 also impressed. But Purple cap holder Nehra (0/36), Jadeja (0/25 in 2) and Bravo (0/27) had off day together and that costed them the match.
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