Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) picked up a comprehensive six-wicket victory against the defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the opening clash of the Indian Premier League(IPL) 2022.
KKR tallies a win by 6 wickets against CSK
The newly-appointed skipper of KKR, Shreyas Iyer had won the toss to put CSK to bat first. The defending champions struggled in the initial stages of the innings as they lost opener Ruturaj Gaikwad(0) in the first over itself. Pacer Umesh Yadav made the breakthrough to give an early blow to CSK. Devon Conway also couldn’t remain at the crease for long as he was dismissed for a mere 3 runs. It was Umesh Yadav once again who scalped both the openers The yellow outfit were reduced to 61 for five at one point which gave the control to KKR.
The middle-order strived to stay at the crease. KKR went on to pick up wickets in quick succession to pile up pressure on CSK. The former KKR player, Robin Uthappa tried to race away with runs but was stopped in his tracks ace spinner, Varun Chakravarthy. Andre Russell also made his name into the wicket-takers column after taking the wicket of Sivam Dube.
However, the former skipper MS Dhoni and the new leader Ravindra Jadeja did the rebuilding work to put up a respectable total of 131 at the expense of five wickets after the end of the stipulated 20 overs. MS Dhoni started off slowly but eventually managed to score a blistering half-century. Ravindra Jadeja also contributed in the supporting role with 28 ball- 26 runs.
KKR came down to chase 132 runs target in a comfortable manner. It was the opener Ajinkya Rahane who hit a brilliant 44 runs off 36 balls. Venkatesh Iyer(16), Nitish Rana(21) and Sam Billings(25) also contributed to the run chase. It was skipper Shreyas Iyer who scored an unbeaten 20 to steer them past the finish line with 9 balls to spare.
KKR is set to face Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) on Wednesday, March 30, while CSK will face Lucknow Super Giants(LSG) on Thursday, March 31.
