×

Andre Russell, Ryan ten Doeschate help KKR pull off heist against CSK in CLT20 2014

KKR recovered from 51 for 5 to pull off a great victory.

Related articles

Ryan ten Doeschate scored an unbeaten 51 © IANS
Ryan ten Doeschate scored an unbeaten 51 © IANS (File Photo)

By Shiamak Unwalla

Sep 17, 2014

Andre Russell’s hurricane 25-ball 58 and Ryan ten Doeschate’s unbeaten 51 helped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) triumph over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by three wickets in the first Champions League T20 (CLT20) 2014 match of the main round after Sunil Narine bowled a dream spell to restrict CSK to a chase-able total.

Things did not look too good for KKR nine overs into the chase, though, as a burst of early wickets left them reeling at 51 for five. Ashish Nehra opened the bowling for CSK with Manivnder Bisla and Gautam Gambhir coming out for KKR. Nehra struck twice in two balls in his second over, getting rid of Gautam Gambhir for six and Manish Pandey for a golden duck. Nehra took his third wicket as Manvinder Bisla was the batsman to be dismissed, caught by Ravichandran Ashwin.

In between, Mohit Sharma struck with his first delivery, getting Yusuf Pathan to edge to slip. After a brief resistance, Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for a 17-ball 19, getting a leading edge off Ravindra Jadeja to Ravichandran Ashwin at third man. That wicket brought Andre Russell to the middle.

Ryan ten Doeschate and Russell then proceeded to put together a partnership that virtually stole the match from under CSK’s feet. The duo led an inspiring fightback, putting on 80 runs together out of which Russell scored 58 off 25 deliveries. Nehra took his fourth wicket when he cleaned Russell up with an accurate yorker.

Just when CSK were getting out of the hole they had dug themselves, Nehra pulled them right back in when he bowled a wide ball that went for four. With the required rate now more or less at six an over, Dwayne Bravo bowled a tight over, but was still taken for eight runs. It was now 10 runs needed off the final two overs.

Ravichandran Ashwin started the over by bowling two dot balls to Pat Cummins before conceding a single. Ten Doeschate then hit a six before Cummins was run out, but Piyush Chawla stepped out and slammed one for four to end the match.

Earlier, MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo boosted CSK to 157 for four against KKR. Smith and McCullum opened the innings for CSK as usual, while Pat Cummins started proceedings for KKR. He induced an outside edge from Smith only to see it snaffled by Yusuf Pathan at slip. CSK hadn’t scored a run at that point. Brendon McCullum then proceeded to hit the final ball of the over for a boundary through covers. Umesh Yadav was clubbed away for four over midwicket by Smith off his very first delivery. It was a short ball on off-stump, and Smith made the most of the gift after being dropped.

Pat Cummins bowled at good pace, but both batsmen continued on their way for CSK, flaying anything remotely short or wide for boundaries. McCullum especially was looking in sizzling touch. With the first three overs costing KKR 27 runs, Gautam Gambhir called upon Piyush Chawla.

Smith greeted Chawla with a boundary straight back past the bowler which nearly took the umpire’s head off. He followed up by smacking Chawla down the ground again for another four before taking a single. Chawla soon had his revenge though, getting Smith to edge behind to Manvinder Bisla.

Pathan, bowling the first over after the powerplay, snared McCullum off the fourth ball he bowled. Sunil Narine came on to restrict CSK after they galloped to a good start and succeeded in doing so, conceding just three runs off the over. Narine was soon celebrating, getting Raina out LBW. Raina fell short being the highest run scorer of CLT20 by just a few runs. The umpire waited to see whether Narine overstepped or not, but at the end it was fine.

In the very next over, Faf du Plessis was out stumped off the bowling of Chawla. That united MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo. The trusty duo proceeded to live up to their reputation by flaying the likes of Yadav, Cummins and Andre Russell. The only bowler who emerged completely unscathed was Narine. The talismanic spinner conceded just nine runs off his four overs, including just a run off the 18th over of the match.

Cummins was hit for a six by Dhoni in the next over before Yadav came on to bowl the final over. Dhoni smacked him for four off the first delivery. The final ball was hit for another monster by Dhoni, as the ball went up into the fifth tier. CSK would feel that they are still about 15 runs short of a match-winning total.

Earlier, KKR won the toss and elected to field first. Robin Uthappa and Jacques Kallis missed the game due to minor niggles, but are expected back for the next few games. For CSK, Dwayne Bravo made his come-back after missing much of IPL 2014 to injury.

Brief scores:

CSK 157 for 4 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 28, MS Dhoni 35*, Dwayne Bravo 28*; Piyush Chawla 2 for 26, Sunil Narine 1 for 9, Yusuf Pathan 1 for 16) lost to KKR 159 for 7 in 19 overs (Ryan ten Doeschate 52*, Andre Russell 58; Ashish Nehra 4 for 21, Mohit Sharma 1 for 31, Ravindra Jadeja 1 for 25) by 3 wickets.

Man of the Match: Andre Russell

Full Scorecard

Complete coverage of Champions League T20 (CLT20) 2014 here

(Shiamak Unwalla is a reporter with CricketCountry. He is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek and Cricket fanatic who likes to pass his free time by reading books, watching TV shows, and eating food. Sometimes all at the same time)

trending this week