Rahul Tripathi’s onslaught helps KKR a victory over CSK
Pic: IPL
|| Indian Correspondent ||
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) successfully beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the ongoing season of Indian Premier League (IPL) in Abu Dhabi on October 7.
KKR won the toss and opted to bat first. With much surprise, they made a change in their opening where they sent Rahul Tripathi to open the innings along with Shubman Gill.
While Gill was seen struggling a bit, Rahul welcomed Deepak Chahar with a boundary. He soon changed the gear and smashed two consecutive boundaries in the 3rd over and hit more two in the next over. Being the second fiddle, Gill’s struggle came to an end when Shardul Thakur removed him for 11.
Rahul, on the other hand, continued his onslaught which provided KKR with a solid start and lifted to 52 inside the power play. Tripathi smashed the second six off Karn Sharma over long-on in the 7th over. While, he was going strong at one end, he was losing partners from the other end.
Nitish Rana could only manage 9 runs before he miscued a slow sweep and Jadeja did the rest. His dismissal brought Sunil Narine in the middle who tried to speed up things with a six and a four off Dwayne Bravo in the 10th over.
Meanwhile, Rahul too brought up his fifty in 32 balls and KKR managed to put up 96 runs. However, things soon changed from there on. While Narine fell for 17, in-form Eoin Morgan was also seen struggling and went for a 10-ball 7. However, Tripathi once again broke the shackle with a four and a six in the 15th over but none of the batsman could support him from the other end.
With a 51-ball 81, including 8 fours and 3 sixes, he helped KKR to put up 167 runs in 20 overs with the loss of 10 wickets.
While chasing, CSK opener Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis started from where they left in the last game. While Watson hit a boundary off Pat Cummins, it was du Plessis who smashed two fours off Shivam Mavi in the 2nd over. However, that didn’t stay long as the young Mavi provided with the first breakthrough.
In-form du Plessis got a thick top edge and Dinesh Karthik took the catch behind the stump and sent him in for mere 17. However, that certainly didn’t affect their scoring as Ambati Rayudu joined Watson in the middle.
The duo slowly built the partnership and put up 99 runs in 12 overs. The game was at the CSK’s court at one point when another youngster Kamlesh Nagarkoti brilliant broke the 69-run stand. Rayudu tried to clear the fence but found Shubman Gill at long-on and went for 30.
And, Narine trapped Watson before the stump in the next over who scored another fifty with 6 fours and a six in the IPL. The pressure fell upon the middle order to stand up and took the side home and who can handle the situation better than the captain MS Dhoni?
Dhoni came at number 4 but failed to contribute much. As soon as he fell for mere 11, Sam Curran too followed him. However, Ravindra Jadeja tried his best with a few big hits but the loss of wickets in the middle and some good spells from KKR bowlers sealed the deal. KKR registered a 10-run win against CSK.
