IPL 2023 | Twitter reacts as KKR keep slim playoffs alive by beating CSK by six wickets

05/14/2023

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Kolkata Knight Riders remained in the playoff hunt following a 6-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk. Nitish Rana (57*) and Rinku Singh (54) played out a perfect chase after the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy (2/36) and Sunil Narine (2/15) wreaked havoc to make their job look easy.

Coming to chase, Rahmanullah Gurbaz fell to Deepak Chahar in the opening over to get KKR off to the worst possible start. Jason Roy and Venkatesh Iyer did not last long either, as their struggles in the Powerplay ensured that the visitors added only 46 when the fielding restrictions were in play. But Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana did not let the game go, and their sensible batting helped KKR reach 67 at the midway stage of the innings without any further damage. They went on to forge a superb 99-run stand for the fourth wicket to reduce the equation to 13 off 17 balls before Rinku was run out by a Moeen Ali bullet throw. With the job done, Rana and Russell kept KKR in playoff contention by getting their side over the line with nine balls to spare.

Opting to bat, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway took little risk to get going, yet managed to add 31 off the first 20 deliveries. It led Nitish Rana to bring their ace spinner Varun Chakravarthy early, and the mystery spinner delivered, outfoxing Gaikwad in the third over. However, Ajinkya Rahane, who hit a fiery 29-ball 71 in their previous meeting, stitched a steady 30-run partnership to keep the scoreboard going alongside Conway. The rebuilding led Rana to bring Chakaravarthy again to bowl the eighth over, and for the second time, he proved his skipper’s decision right by dismissing Rahane. Sunil Narine wreaked havoc after that, complementing his spin twin with two quick wickets which, coupled with a Shardul Thakur wicket, reduced CSK to 72/5 from 61/1 in no time. Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja then stabilised the innings, leading them to escape from a subpar total to post a decent 144/6.

Good win for KKR today!

puttukichi😂🤣😂

Very happy for win💪
— அருண்குமார் ம (@Arun_thought)

Rinku is doing it alone for KKR most of the times!

Rinku Singh wins another game for KKR.

Nitesh Rana and Rinku rescue KKR vs CSK.
— Dreamer (@CzanB)

KKR WIN!

Ipudu chepu bro KKR win 🫢
— kaviraj. (@kaviraj69)

Biggest win for KKR and fans!

KKR win a match against CSK at Chepauk after 11 years.
— Himanshu Raj (@IMHimanshu_Raj)

It's special feeling!

Great win KKR. Winning in Chepauk is always a tedious job well played Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh and well done by bowlers. Now on to next one.
— Joydeep Mitra (@joydeep__mitra)

Both have done tremendoud job!