Chennai: CSK won the IPL opening thriller and survived a close shave that could have gone either way. Tim Southe excelled in his last over with tough Yorkers.
KKR chasing 153 got off to a good start with Kallis and Bisla amassing 64 runs in 9.3 overs. Kallis looked in excellent touch, when he hit Southee for three 4’s in 4th over to get it rolling. It was going good for KKR as Dhoni missed a chance of stumping Manavinder Bisla, the same over. However Dhoni could finally stump when he came on front foot off Randiv in 9 th over.
It was Yusuf Pathan’s turn to hit a six and get run out by direct hit off Dhoni from square leg.
KKR was fine and looked to finish easy when they were 111/2 in 15. Next over R Ashwin got Kallis at 54 (7x4) caught by Badri in short fine-leg. Dhoni stumped again, this time Morgan off Raina in next over. A fumbled run out of Gambhir followed in next over.
KKR now needed 34 of 19 with Manoj Tiwary and L R Shukla on strike. Next over of Randiv, Tiwary hit 2 sixes and Shukla a boundary, which eased the equation. Dhoni stumped again in next over. This time It was Tiwary who was going for big one in last ball of next over. 9 were needed of 6 last over. Tim southee got Shukla second ball after he score a double. He just gave 6 runs in last over and won it for CSK.
Earlier CSK got to 153 thanks to opening batsman Anirudha Srikkanth.(6x4; 2x6) who was dropped twice by KKR. Raina (33) and Dhoni (29) made important contributions. Kallis was most successful bowler for KKR with 2 wickets but went for 34 runs in three overs. Mainly due to hitting of Albie Morkel 15(9) in last over of Kallis, they managed to get 16 of it.
Positives for CSK
They are as awesome side that they were. “Captain Cool” is super cool even with High expectations.
Positives for KKR
Apart from the outcome of the match, It was Interesting to see “New” KKR fight for the match. Manoj tiwari and Shukla batted well. Kallis seems like he will be strength of KKR like he was to RCB.
Chennai Super Kings:
S. Anirudha 64 (55b, 6x4, 2x6) (MOM)
Kallis (2/34)
Kolkata Knight Riders
J. Kallis 54 (42b, 7x4)
Jakati (1/26)
Ashwin(1/26)
