Super Kings triumph over Russell, Cummins’ blitzes

Mumbai, India - They had a much-maligned opener come back to form spectacularly. They had their other opener power to 95 not out. They had a total of 220 for three, and then they had the opposition 31 for five inside the powerplay.

Then the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ran into not just Andre Russell at his ball-smashing best, but Pat Cummins morphing into Dre 2.0, as the Kolkata Knight Riders kept hammering away at the target despite the seeming hopelessness of their cause.

The Super Kings had to contend with a match they thought they had sewn up bursting open once again.

But, in the end, they got past the finish line, winning by 18 runs in the final over on Wednesday.

Russell hit a 21-ball fifty, coming in at five down in 5.2 overs. Cummins walked in when Russell was out, saw Dinesh Karthik fall too, and then reeled off a 23-ball fifty.

But in the end, the Super Kings had put up too many runs and taken too many wickets up front, as a valiant chase ended with Kolkata 202 all out in 19.1 overs. Cummins was unconquered on 66 and the last two wickets were run-outs with Cummins trying to retain strike.

The Wankhede Stadium's status as a batting haven saw 26 sixes hit. Deepak Chahar's powerplay heroics, which left the Knight Riders in tatters, almost became a footnote, as did his excellent figures of four for 29 - until he effected those two run-outs at the end. The Super Kings were driven to their total by fifties from Ruturaj Gaikwad (64) and Faf du Plessis (95 n.o.) and, at the innings break, they must have thought they had enough even if the dew arrived.

By the last over of Kolkata’s powerplay, they would have thought it was just a matter of time, and the nerdier ones among them would have been calculating the expected net run-rate boost. Few could have foreseen the sort of blistering comeback that Kolkata mounted, but, eventually, Chennai had collectively done just enough.