Asked to bat first, CSK started their innings in a blistering fashion, with openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway stitching 73 runs opening partnership. Later, Ajinkya Rahane displayed brilliant strokeplay and scored a quickfire 71 off 29 deliveries for his team. Shivam Dube also contributed with 50 off 21 balls and powered CSK to a mammoth total of 235/4 in their allotted 20 overs. On the other hand, Kulwant Khejroliya picked two wickets for KKR.
Rahane smashed KKR bowlers all over the park during his innings and hammered six fours and five maximums in his 71-run knock. Among those five sixes by the right-handed batter, one came against Andre Russell.
On the second ball of the 17th over, Russell delivered a short-of-length ball to Rahane, which the latter pulled for a brilliant six over deep mid-wicked. While the 34-year-old CSK batter gave no reaction after the hit, the KKR all-rounder was seen a bit surprised as he watched the ball sail into the stands.
Here’s the video:
Coming back to the match, KKR got off to a poor start and lost their top two batters with just two runs on the board. Although Jason Roy played an explosive inning of 61 off 26 balls and Rinku Singh scored a brilliant fifty, Kolkata fell short of the target by 49 runs and finished their innings on 186/8 in 20 overs. Meanwhile, Tushar Deshpande and Maheesh Theekshana picked up two wickets each for Chennai. Rahane was named the ‘Player of the Match’ for his sensational knock in the clash.
Notably, after defeating Kolkata, CSK have now occupied the top spot of the IPL 2023 points tally.
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