By K Aditya
Abu Dhabi, Sep 26 (UNI) Kolkata Knight Riders put on a strong score of 172/6 on the board against Chennai Super Kings after a good recovery from their middle-order batsmen in match 38 of IPL 2021 here on Sunday.
Batting first, Rahul Tripathi (45 runs off 33 balls) provided the start KKR wanted but the fall of wickets at regular intervals took the momentum away from the side and took swashbuckling knocks from the likes of Nitish Rana (37 off 27), Andre Russell (21 off 15) and Dinesh Karthik (26 off 11) to bring the side back in the game in the death overs. Shardul Thakur (2/20) and Josh Hazlewood (2/40) did the hard work with the ball for CSK.
In the beginning, KKR made the most out of the new ball with the top-order clobbering 50 runs inside the powerplay. However, the aggression didn't come without damage with Ambati Rayudu running out Shubman Gill (9 runs off 5 balls) in the first over. Runs didn't stop flowing with in-form opener Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi going after the CSK bowlers in rounds during the 40-run partnership. The dangerous-looking stand was then broken by Shardul Thakur, who dismissed Iyer (18 off 15) at the beginning of the sixth over with 50 runs on the board.
Following Iyer's departure, runs came at a snail pace with Tripathi and captain Eoin Morgan adding 20 runs in the next four overs. KKR were soon down to 70/3 in the 10th over as the KKR skipper (8 off 14) disappointed yet again with his shot-making. Morgan fell prey to Oz pacer Josh Hazelwood in the 10th over with more trouble following KKR. Tripathi, who was just five runs short of his half-century, was castled by Ravindra Jadeja, leaving KKR stuttering at 89/4.
Andre Russell then scored a quick 15-ball 21 in a fourth-wicket stand with Nitish Rana to take KKR past the 120-run mark by the end of the 16th over. The partnership didn't just bail KKR out of trouble but set the platform for Dinesh Karthik to come in and exploit.
Coming in at No. 6 after Russell was bowled by Thakur, Karthik took charge of the innings while playing a cameo of 11-ball 26, laced with three fours and a six, to forge a quickfire 41-run partnership with Nitish Rana, who remained not out at 37 (27).
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