Picture : IPL / X
Defending Champions Kolkata Knight Riders Play – offs hopes suffered a big blow as they went down to five- time winners Chennai Super Kings by 2 wickets in a Tata IPl 2025 encounter at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
KKR Skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and decided to bat first . KKR opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz began in aggressive mood but could not hang on and was out for 11. Sunil Narine struggled with his timing to score 26. Skipper Rahane added momentum to the innings with 48 ( 33 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes) , talented Angkrish Raghuvanshi out for just ( 1) .
Power hitter Andre Russell threatened big but fell for 38 ( 21 balls , 4 fours, 3 sixes), Rinku Singh ( 9) as KKR struggled to put a fighting total. Manish Pandey remained unbeaten with 36 ( 28 balls, 1 four, 1 six) , Ramandeep Singh not out 4. KK finishing at 179/ 6 in their 20 overs.
CSK Bowling : Khaleel Ahmed 0/ 14 ( 2 overs), Anshul Kamboj 1/ 38 ( 3 overs), Noor Ahmad 4/ 31( 4 overs), Ravichandran Ashwin 0/ 19 ( 3 overs) , Ravindra Jadeja 1/ 34 ( 4 overs) , Matheesha Pathirana 0/ 39 ( 4 overs)
In reply, CSK got off to a horror start losing early wickets. Both CSK openers Ayush Mhatre and Devon Conway did not disturb the scoreboard and out for 0. Urvil Patel tried to get CSK back with a quick 31 ( 11 balls, 1 four, four sixes) but he too did not last long. Ravichandran Ashwin ( 8) and when Ravindra Jadeja fell for 19, CSK were tottering at 60/ 5 in 5. 2 overs.
And then comes the turn- around as young Dewald Brevis took charge with a blistering innings that shocked KKR . Brevis was outstanding and smashed a superb 52 ( 25 balls , 4 fours, 4 sixes) to put CSK back in the game .
It was left to impact player Shivam Dube to anchor the innings . Dube played the finisher to perfection and scored a vital 45 ( 40 balls, 2 fours, 3 sixes) . SK Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was watchful and rotated the strike and gave Dube maximum strike during their stand . After Dube’s exit, Noor Ahmad too did not last long and was out for 2.
Needing 8 off the last over bowled by Andre Russell, MSD brought back old memories as he blasted a majestic six of the first ball to bring down the required runs and took a single to give Kamboj the opportunity . Anshul Kamboj who lifted the ball over the top off Russell to seal a thrilling win by 2 wickets and two balls to spare. CSK reaching 183/ 8 in 19.4 overs. MSD not out 17 . Kamboj not out 4 ( winning shot)
KKR Bowling : Vaibhav Arora 3/ 48 ( 4 overs) , Moeen Ali 1/ 23 ( 2 overs) , Harshit Rana 2/ 43 ( 4 overs) , Andre Russell 0/ 28 ( 2. 4 overs) . Varun Chakaravarthy 2/ 18 ( 4 overs) , Sunil Narine 0/ 28 ( 4 overs)
This was the end of KKR’s campaign at home. They now have 11 points from 12 matches. The three-time champions play their next two matches away against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru and even in case they win both the games, they have to depend on other results.
Match: IPL 2025, 57th Match
Venue: Kolkata | Date: May 07, 2025
