Ravindra Jadeja put Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on IPL exit route with two sixes in the last over to win a match by six wickets that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) looked to have lost at different junctures. (IPL 2020 Full Coverage)
After Pat Cummins bowled an 18th over yielding only four and leaving CSK on 143/4 chasing 173, Lockie Ferguson kept it tight till the fourth ball when the dew did him in and Jadeja smacked a full toss for four. A no ball went for three, the free hit dispatched for six, an outside edge fetched four and from 146/4 after 18.3, CSK needed 10 off the last over.
Kamlesh Nagarkoti kept it to seven off the last two but then Jadeja smoked those sixes, finishing the night on 31 off 11 balls.
It took till their penultimate league game for KKR to bat as a unit. For the first time in 13 games, coach Brendon McCullum’s fluid batting order—one which has had five openers and seven players at No. 4—survived a power play without losing a wicket.
Having tried a sweep first ball and perished against Kings XI Punjab, Nitish Rana left deliveries but that was okay because his opening partner Shubman Gill had started with successive boundaries. After getting to 10 off 17 balls, Rana attacked Michell Santner, sweeping two boundaries and swinging the left-arm spinner for a six to move to 24 off 21.
{{/usCountry}}Having tried a sweep first ball and perished against Kings XI Punjab, Nitish Rana left deliveries but that was okay because his opening partner Shubman Gill had started with successive boundaries. After getting to 10 off 17 balls, Rana attacked Michell Santner, sweeping two boundaries and swinging the left-arm spinner for a six to move to 24 off 21.
{{/usCountry}}From then on, Rana held the innings together using his feet against spinners, sweeping boundaries in an arc from square-leg to fine-leg and reaching his third half-century of the season.
CSK spinners had choked the runs but with three successive sixes off Karn Sharma in the 16th, Rana turned things around. That over yielded 19 and the next four overs fetched 47 as KKR reached 172/5. On way to that score, Rana got to his highest IPL score of 87 (61b; 4x10; 6x4) and Dinesh Karthik scored 21 off 10.
With Cummins hitting his line, KKR were really chirpy when CSK began. Shane Watson and Ruturaj Gaikwad added 50 for the first wicket till Varun Chakravarthy got the big Australian. Gaikwad again showed why he deserved to be playing more than his fifth game. He got to his second successive half-century hitting glorious drives between cover and mid-off sometimes moving away to make room and on other occasions, checking the shot.
Having kept CSK under pressure till the 10th over, KKR got Rana to bowl and Ambati Rayudu and Gaikwad took 16 and 14 off the next from Ferguson. Nagarkoti then went for 12 and suddenly CSK were back in the game. Chakravarthy got Dhoni and dropped Sam Curran in the same over but KKR still managed to pull it back. And then they lost to Jadeja.