Chennai Super Kings produced a stellar effort to spoil Kolkata Knight Riders’ party at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The Super Kings pulled off a thrilling win by six wickets chasing 165 runs set by Eoin Morgan & Co.
Chasing a moderate total, Ruturaj Gaikwad once again led the charge with back to back fifties. He and Shane Watson gave a good start adding 50 runs for the first wicket to set the platform. Ambati Rayudu also chipped in with a fine knock to keep Chennai Super Kings in the hunt.
Chennai spoil Kolkata’s party
Eoin Morgan & Co pulled off the strings with a couple of wickets, but Ravindra Jadeja unbeaten cameo put Kolkata in a very difficult position. He contributed with 11-ball 31 including two fours and three sixes to see Chennai Super Kings home.
Batting first, Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a fluent start by Shubman Gill, in particular, featuring Nitish Rana. But as soon as Gil departed, the young southpaw took over and launched an assault for the ages. He didn’t receive the best support from Sunil Narine and Rinku Singh, but Rana took on the Chennai Super Kings bowlers.
Senior pros Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan aided the final flourish – 66 runs off the final 5, and as the Super Kings continued to bleed out with the ball in hand. However, it was not enough for Kolkata Knight Riders to seal a win.
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Losing the toss made the difference – Eoin Morgan
Speaking at the end of the day, Eoin Morgan rued losing the toss as one of the biggest factors to go down against Chennai Super Kings. He also praised his players for putting their 100 percent effort on the field and admitted that there was nothing much to fault.
“I think we played really well there, just on the wrong side of the toss. The dew from about the 8th over was really challenging. We improved on our batting (as compared to the previous games). Our bowlers absolutely gave it their everything. I can’t fault anyone’s effort tonight,” Eoin Morgan said.
Furthermore, Eoin Morgan defended young Kamlesh Nagarkoti, who failed to defend 14 runs from the last over. The KKR skipper said that the fast bowler will take it on the chin and come back faster.
“He (Nagarkoti) didn’t have enough runs to defend. He’s a young guy, he will take it on the chin and move forward. Looking forward to the next game against Royals,” Morgan added.