Kolkata Knight Riders beat Chennai Super Kings by 10 runs in the Match no.21 of the Dream 11 IPL 2020. With tonight’s win Knight Riders moved to third place in the points table with 6 total points in five games played.
Knight Riders Captain Dinesh Karthik won the toss and elected to bat first. Youngster Rahul Tripathi scored impressive 81 runs in 51 balls with the help of eight 4’s and three on his first game of this season, none of other Knight Rider was able to score more than 17. PJ Cummins & Sunil Narine both scored 17 runs to help Kolkata to put competitive score of 167 runs on the board.
Chennai bowlers except Deepak Chahar bowled really well to contain Kolkata for 167 runs in 20 overs. Bravo took three wickets and finished game with 4-0-37-3 bowling figures. Sam Curran once again economical and impressive, Karn Sharma & Thakur took two wickets each along with Curran. But once again their batsmen let them down.
Chennai Super kings batting strongly depends on their top order, but in-form Faf Du Plessis got dismissed for 17 runs in 10 balls after setting up 30 run partnership with Watson in just 3.4 overs.
Ambati Rayudu (30 runs from 27 balls) and Shane Watson (50 runs from 40 balls) scored 69 runs for second wicket before their middle order lost steam against Kolkata bowling attack.
Dhoni (11 runs in 12 balls) and Jadhav (7 runs in 12 balls) inability to produce quick runs in the final overs cost them match, Jadeja’s cameo of 21 runs in 8 balls came too late for Super Kings.
With tonight’s loss Chennai dropped to 5th place in the points table with just 4 points in 6 matches. They need to do better job in deciding the batting order, Dhoni needs to better job as a captain and as batsman for Chennai to claw back into playoffs positions. Kedar Jadhav is not adding any value to the side, team should take some tough decision on him and give chance to some other youngsters.
Post-Match Comments:
Rahul Tripathi, the Man of the Match:
“It is a dream come true for me. I was prepared for both the roles. Wherever you get the opportunity, you have to be prepared. I just thought the ball was coming on nicely so I just felt we should keep the runs coming. I have loved this journey. Coming to KKR is special.”
Dinesh Karthik, Captain of Kolkata Knight Riders:
“There are some key players. Sunil Narine is one of us. The least we can do is back him. I am really proud of him as a player. We thought we will ease Sunny’s pressure a little bit and send Rahul up. Our batting is very fluid. I started at 3, I am batting at 7. That is the good thing. Over the years fluid line-ups have done better. The way they batted at the start they did really well, but at the back end I had great faith in Sunny and Varun. That paid off for me.”
MS Dhoni, Captain of Chennai Super Kings:
“In the middle overs, there was a phase when they bowled two-three good overs. Then we lost wickets. If our batting was different during that period, the result would have been different. Initially we gave away a few too many with the new ball. Karan did really well. The bowlers did well to bring them down to 160, but the batsmen let the bowlers down. There were no boundaries in the end, and you have to be slightly innovative in these scenarios. If someone is bowling just back of a length, you have to find a way to hit boundaries.”
Where things Stand after 21 matches played in Dream 11 IPL 2020
What Next?
- Kolkata Knight Riders will play against Kings XI Punjab on 10th October at 3:30 PM in Abu Dhabi.
- Chennai Super Kings will play against Royal Challengers Bangalore on 10th October at 7:30 PM in Dubai.
