Chennai high on MSD
At the twilight of his career, Dhoni guides CSK to title win over KKR
MS Dhoni added yet another feather to his already impressive captain’s hat as CSK won their fourth IPL title, thanks to a superb 86 by Faf du Plessis and a combined bowling effort led by Shardul Thakur’s three-fer. CSK got off to a steady start as openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis put on 50 runs inside the first six overs.
The much-needed breakthrough to KKR was provided by Sunil Narine as he dismissed Gaikwad (32) in the ninth over, ending the 61-run opening stand.
Faf du Plessis continued on his merry way and he completed his half-century in the 11th over of the innings with CSK nicely poised at 97/1. Robin Uthappa scored 31 off 15 balls and he proved a perfect foil to Faf and the duo put on 63 runs for the second wicket. However, Narine once again got among the action as he dismissed Uthappa in the 14th over, reducing CSK to 124/2.
Moeen Ali next came out to bat and he also played the very same way and KKR bowlers were left searching for answers. In the final three overs, CSK managed to add 39, taking the score past the 190run mark.
KKR’s reply was a very strong one, thanks to Venkatesh Iyer. Dhoni dropped him before he could get going and Iyer made sure he capitalised. The early introduction of Dwayne Bravo helped CSK keep things in check before Ravindra Jadeja almost gets rid of Gill. However, the skier by Gill had hit the wires of the spider camera, which made that a dead ball despite a good catch from Ambati Rayudu. The KKR batter then carted Jadeja for 16 as KKR were none for 88.
After that, KKR lost their way as Shardul Thakur first dismissed Iyer before sending Nitish Rana back for a duck. Chahar then trapped Gill in front for 51 as an attempted scoop went awry. Jadeja dismissed Dinesh Karthik (nine) and Shakib Al Hasan (zero) to leave KKR needing 73 off the final five overs.
But with Rahul Tripathi injured, it was all over the Knights.