Rahul Tripathi’s 51-ball 81 run on Wednesday helped Kolkata Knight Riders register an important IPL win against Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in Abu Dhabi.
Batting first, Kolkata Knight Riders were all out for 167 in their quota of 20 overs. The highlight of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ innings was the 51-ball 81 run knock by Rahul Tripathi. Aside from Tripathi, no other batsmen were able to shine with the bat.
Dwayne Bravo was the pick of the bowlers for Chennai Super Kings as he finished with 3-37 in four overs. Sam Curran, Karn Sharma and Shardul Thakur shared two wickets each.
In response, Chennai Super Kings made 157-5 . Shane Watson made 50 in 40 balls, while Ambati Rayudu contributed with 30 off 27 balls.
With tonight’s win, the KKR have now occupied the third position in the points table.
Both Shah Rukh Khan and his daughter Suhana Khan were seen cheering their team during the crucial encounter against the CSK in Abu Dhabi.
Reacting to his side’s loss, Dhoni said, “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 too many with the new ball. Karn 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.”
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik said, “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.”
Tripathi said that performing in front of ‘Shah Rukh sir’ was special for him. He was declared Man Of The Match.
Scores in Brief:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 167 all out ( Rahul Tripathi 81, D Bravo 3-37)
Chennai Super Kings: (S Watson 50, Andre Russell 1-18)
KKR won by 10 runs.
