A strong gathering of 61,827 - a mix of KKR and CSK's fans - were treated to a fantastic game of cricket at Eden Gardens on Thursday (May 3) night. Kolkata Knight Riders picked up a six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings to go up to 10 points in the tournament points table.
A clinical performance from the bowlers had helped KKR restrict CSK to 177 for 5, and the hosts, led by a spirited knock from young Shubman Gill, and some explosive hitting from Sunil Narine, scaled the target in 17.4 overs.
Sent in to bat, CSK started off on a strong note, with openers Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis amassing 48 runs without any hiccups. Piyush Chawla, however, broke the partnership with a terrific googly that slipped through du Plessis's defence and crashed onto his stumps. Du Plessis's knock of 27 from 15 balls consisted four boundaries and a six.
Even after du Plessis fell, Watson and Raina kept the scoreboard ticking, though they found it hard to keep the boundaries coming. Watson was the next one to fall, caught by Shivam Mavi at deep midwicket off the bowling of Sunil Narine. Watson scored 36 off 25 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes.
Raina (31 off 26) fell soon after, holing out to Mitchell Johnson at wide long on off Kuldeep Yadav's bowling.
Raina's exit brought Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja together. Dhoni played in his unique style, smashing four sixes and a boundary to remain unbeaten on 43 off 25 balls at the end of 20 overs.
KKR's spinners did well to keep the scoring rate under check in the death overs, making sure that the target didn't go out of reach.
The hosts lost Chris Lynn early in the chase, but that made no difference to Sunil Narine's approach. The Trinidadian kept plundering sixes and fours to provide KKR with a good platform early on. Uthappa, who came out at No. 3, mistimed one from KM Asif to depart for 6 from eight balls.
Narine, who was dropped by Jadeja twice in the second over by Jadeja, went on to score 32 off 20 balls before looping a catch to Bravo at long on off Jadeja's bowling.
75 percent of KKR's runs came through boundaries in the first 10 overs, when the scoreboard read 90 for 3. Shubman Gill and Rinku Singh kept attacking the batsmen, till Harbhajan Singh got the latter bowled for 16 off 18 balls.
Gill kept his cool to remain unbeaten on 57 off 36 balls, his knock studded with six boundaries and two sixes. Dinesh Karthik gave him company for a solid fifth-wicket stand of 83 off 36 balls. Karthik scored 45 not out off 18 balls, with seven hits to the fence and a six.
KKR will now head to Mumbai to take on Mumbai Indians in their next match at the Wankhede Stadium.