Chennai Super Kings crush Kolkata Knight Riders at MA Chidambaram Stadium in a low scoring game.
Faf du Plessis scored an unbeaten knock of 43 runs and stitched a 46 run stand with Ambati Rayudu 21 to help Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets on Tuesday.
After the win, CSK claimed the top position in the IPL 2019 points table.
Chennai who won the toss opted to bowl first, the hosts restricted KKR to 108/9 despite an unbeaten half-century by Andre Russell. Faf du Plessis top-scored for CSK with 43 runs while Kedar Jadhav stood unbeaten on eight as the home team chased down the target with 16 balls to spare.
KKR suffered their second loss in six matches.
Shane Watson smashed two fours and a six early on in the run chase before falling to a soft dismissal off spinner Sunil Narine.
Suresh Raina did not cash in on the opportunity to make a big score and perished in an attempt to hit Narine out of the park, leaving CSK at 35 for two in five overs.
As the asking rate was not an issue, Du Plessis finished 43 not out off 45 balls, and Rayudu gathered 21.
KKR who has been extremely dependent on in-form Andre Russell after a poor show from the KKR batting unit. He played the only way he knows, going for big shots, and succeeded to a certain extent to finish with five fours and three sixes.
Chennai bowler Deepak Chahar, who returned with impressive figures of 3/20 from four overs, rattled the KKR top-order with early strikes, including Chris Lynn. The visitors struggled at 29-4 in the power play.
Harbhajan Singh got 2/15, Imran Tahir picked up 2/21 and Ravindra Jadeja pocketed 1/17) put the brakes on the KKR batting with a disciplined effort.
KKR were under pressure from the start as Lynn and Sunil Narine fell within the space of five balls.
Robin Uthappa perished on 11.
Skipper Dinesh Karthik was also dismissed at 19, leaving KKR at 44 for five. That KKR’s 50 came up only in the 12th over, indicated how much their batsmen struggled to come to grips with the surface at Chepauk.
After the game MS Dhoni lashed out at the authorities at Chepauk for the terrible slow track provided.