Cricket Highlights, 14 May: IPL 2023 (Match 61) – Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders   

Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders (Match 61) – Highlights

Chennai Super Kings took on Kolkata Knight Riders at home in the 61st match of the IPL on Sunday (May 15). Batting first in that match, Chennai Super Kings set a moderate target in the allotted 20 overs. Chasing the target, Kolkata Knight Riders reached the target before the allotted overs ended. As a result, Chennai Super Kings had to leave the field with a loss of 6 wickets. Along with that, Rinku Singh won the Man of the Match title with his excellent batting.

Must win at any cost in order to keep one’s playoff hopes. With such an equation, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings began their match yesterday. Then, by easily winning that game, Kolkata maintained its chances of finishing in the top four.

With this victory, Shah Rukh Khan’s team Kolkata has 12 points after 13 games, moving them up to seventh in the standings. However, Kolkata does not have control over the outcome of the playoffs. Next Saturday, Kolkata will face the Lucknow Super Giants in the league’s final game. However, Kolkata might be eliminated from the IPL before that game.

Chennai, on the other side, has fared well in the playoff race despite losing this game. With 15 points from 13 games, Dhoni’s team is in second place. If Chennai had won, the playoffs would have been guaranteed for them.

Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat. After playing the full 20 overs, his team scored 144 runs for 6 wickets. Ruturaj Gaikwad who scored 17 runs off 13 balls with the help of 2 fours left the field first. Then 2 more wickets fell at the team’s 66 runs. With the help of 1 four and 1 six, Ajinkya Rahane left the field after being caught out with 16 runs from 11 balls and Devon Conway returned to the dressing room with 30 runs from 28 balls with the help of 3 fours.

Then Ambati Rayudu was bowled out by Narine for 4 runs. Moeen Ali left the field after scoring 1 run in the 11th over. With the last 2 balls left, Ravindra Jadeja also returned to the dressing room with 20 runs. Besides, Shivam Dube was unbeaten with 48 runs from 34 balls, batting at number five. He also hit 1 four and 3 sixes. In the end, they set a target of 145 runs with 6 runs extra.

Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine took 2 wickets each for Kolkata. Besides, Vaibhav Arora and Shardul Thakur took 1 wicket each. 

With 9 balls remaining and 6 wickets in hand, Kolkata exceeded the 145 runs that the Chennai hosts had set as their goal. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was lost by Kolkata in the first over of the run chase. From 4 balls, the Afghan opener scored 1 run. In the third over, Venkatesh Iyer, who had scored nine runs in four balls, returned to the dressing room. The loss of Jason Roy (12 off 15), who left the team at 33 runs in the fifth over, put Kolkata under a lot of pressure.

Under this circumstance, by scoring a combination of 99 runs for the fourth wicket, Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh were able to salvage Kolkata. Captain Nitish was still unbeaten at 57 runs off 44 balls (6 fours and 1 six) when Rinku was bowled for 54 runs off 43 balls with four fours and three sixes. On the boundaries of the Kolkata captain, Kolkata scored the winning run.

Deepak Chahar single-handedly took three wickets for 27 runs in 3 overs for Chennai Super Kings.

Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders Scoreboard    

Chennai Super Kings – 144/6 (20.0)  

Kolkata Knight Riders – 147/4 (18.3)  

Result – Kolkata Knight Riders won by 6 wkts   

Player of the match – Rinku Singh

Rinku Singh

Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XIs