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Kolkata Knight Riders 133/4 (Rahane 44, Bravo 3-20) beat Chennai Super Kings 131/5 (Dhoni 50*, Yadav 2-20) by 6 wickets.
Mumbai: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) kicked off their TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 campaign with a 6-wicket win against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
An impressive all-round bowling effort helped KKR to restrict CSK to a total of 131/5 before crucial innings from Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer made it a convincing chase for KKR with one over to spare.
Chasing a target of 132, KKR openers – Venkatesh Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane – got off to a watchful start, scoring 15 in the first three overs.
Rahane, with his sublime timing smacked the first six of the innings off the fourth over bowled by Adam Milne followed by a couple of boundaries in the next over bowled by Tushar Deshpande. The right-handed batter kept doing the majority of hitting as KKR were placed at 43-0 at the end of the powerplay.
Venkatesh Iyer was caught behind off Dwayne Bravo, who struck immediately after being introduced into the attack in the seventh over.
Nitish Rana, who was the next man in, hit two fours as 15 runs were conceded off the eighth over bowled by Shivam Dube. Rana carried the momentum into the next over and smacked a maximum off Mitchell Santner over mid-wicket.
CSK bounced back by picking two wickets in quick succession. Bravo scalped his second wicket in form of the dangerous-looking Rana and Santner dismissed the well-set Rahane, who was dismissed for 44.
KKR were 98/3 at the end of 14 overs with the asking rate less than six and two new batsmen at the crease – Sam Billings and KKR’s new skipper, Shreyas Iyer.
Both Billings and captain Iyer scored steadily, playing risk-free cricket and kept mounting the pressure. With KKR needing less than 10 runs to cross the finish line, CSK brought Bravo back into the attack and the right-arm pacer picked his third wicket of the match to dismiss Billings.
KKR skipper then finished things off with a boundary as his side successfully chased down the target with an over to spare.
Earlier, CSK, who were put into bat first and led by newly-appointed captain Ravindra Jadeja, lost an early wicket in the form of Ruturaj Gaikwad. The right-hander edged the new ball to Nitish Rana at slips against Umesh Yadav.
Robin Uthappa, who was the next man in, smashed the first six of the season using the pace of Yadav followed by another maximum against Shivam Mavi. However, Yadav came back into the game by scalping his second wicket and sending Devon Conway back to the pavilion.
At the end of the powerplay, CSK were 35/2 and Uthappa was joined by Ambati Rayudu, who stylishly lofted one over cover for a six. Varun Chakaravarthy joined the fray to get rid of Uthappa after the right-hander was stumped for 28.
CSK lost another quick wicket in the process after a mix-up in the middle meant Rayudu was run-out for 15.
CSK were 57/4 at the halfway mark and found themselves in further trouble after Shivam Dube mistimed a delivery by Andre Russell and was caught in the covers.
Skipper Jadeja was joined by MS Dhoni out in the middle as the duo steadied the innings with an aim of advancing towards a competitive total.
Dhoni accelerated at the death and creamed three boundaries in the eighteenth over bowled by Andre Russell. The former skipper continued the exploits and smacked a four and six each in the penultimate over bowled by Mavi.
The bottom hand of the former CSK skipper was on full display as MSD brought up his fifty in the final over, striking two boundaries and Jadeja finished the innings off in style with a maximum as the Super Kings finished with a total of 131/5.
