Kolkata: Left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad picked an exceptional 4-31 while Dewald Brevis’ hit a whirlwind 22-ball fifty as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by two wickets in a thrilling IPL 2025 clash at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
On a slow pitch, Noor’s spell helped CSK restrict KKR to 179/6, in return the five-time champions were reduced to 60/5. Brevis stepped up to hit 52 off 25 balls, hitting four fours and as many sixes, as CSK chased down 180 with two balls to spare. He was well-supported by Shivam Dube making 45 off 40 balls, as CSK landed a big blow on KKR’s chances of entering playoffs.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane top-scored with 48 off 33 balls while Andre Russell and Sunil Narine chipped in with 38 and 26 respectively. But CSK’s spin-squeeze, led by Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Noor’s four-fer ensured KKR did not cross the 180-run mark.
Electing to bat first, Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit a four and six, before flicking straight to midwicket off Anshul Kamboj. Rahane came in to hit three quick boundaries, before Narine hit him for three fours and a six in the power-play, which KKR ended with 67/1.
But shortly after, Narine went for a big hoick, and was beaten on it by Noor, with MS Dhoni whipping off the bails quickly and was out for 26 off 17 balls. Noor then took out Angkrish Raghuvanshi, by having him caught behind by Dhoni off a superb googly. As a result, overs 7-10 didn’t yield any boundary for KKR.
In a bid to hit out against Jadeja, Rahane went for a reverse-sweep, but was caught by backward point for 48 off 33 balls. Russell came in to hit Jadeja for two fours and a six, before hitting a four and six each off Matheesha Pathirana. Russell also took out Noor for six and four, before the spinner had the big-hitting batter holing out for 38 off 21 balls.
Noor then came in the final over to have Rinku Singh pull straight to deep backward square leg. Pathirana then conceded only six singles in the final over, as CSK’s troika of spinners took a combined 5-84 in 11 overs, with Manish Pandey being unbeaten on 36 off 28 balls.
In the chase, CSK had a disastrous start. Ayush Mhatre fell for a duck after slapping Vaibhav Arora straight to point. Urvil Patel made a strong impression on debut by flicking Vaibhav for six, before tonking Moeen Ali for two sixes and a four. Moeen, though, bounced back by castling Devon Conway through the gate and ensuring another CSK opener fell for a duck.
Patel whacked Harshit Rana for six, before he got an edge on a loft and was caught by short third man, ending his knock on an 11-ball 31. Ravichandran Ashwin’s promotion to number three backfired as he sliced to backward point off Rana, before a googly from Varun Chakaravarthy castled Ravindra Jadeja, as CSK ended power-play at 62/5.
Brevis and Dube tried resurrecting CSK’s innings, but were put on a squeeze by Narine and Chakaravarthy, as the equation for five-time champions read as 87 runs off the last ten overs. But Brevis sparked a turnaround by hitting Arora for three sixes and two fours – bringing up his half-century off just 22 balls, as 30 runs came off 11th over.
His fantastic knock, though, was ended by Chakaravarthy, as he holed out to long-on for 52 off 25 balls. After Brevis fell, Dube took charge by lofting Harshit Rana for two sixes, while pulling Andre Russell for a boundary.
Arora brought a twist into the game by having Dube hole out to long-off, before having Noor Ahmad give a simple catch to long-on. With the equation down to eight runs off the final over, Dhoni smacked Russell for six before Anshul Kamboj lofted over mid-off for the winning boundary and gave CSK a tense victory.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 179/6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 48, Andre Russell 38; Noor Ahmad 4-31, Ravindra Jadeja 1-34) lost to Chennai Super Kings 183/8 in 19.4 overs (Dewald Brevis 52, Shivam Dube 45; Vaibhav Arora 3-48, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-18) by two wickets.
(IANS)
