IPL 2018: CSK vs KXIP, Highlights, Match 56 at Pune: CSK win, RR qualify

This is the final game of IPL 2018 league stage.

Live Updates

12:06 AM IST

Man of the Match: Lungi Ngidi.
11:47 PM IST

Dhoni finishes with a six! That was an easy guess wasn’t it. CSK win by 5 wickets. They literally toyed with KXIP, giving them hopes. CSK finish group stage at No.2 spot. They will now face SRH at Mumbai in Qualifier 1 on Tuesday.
11:45 PM IST

Tye starts with a short ball to Raina. He pulls it away for a six. Another six from Raina. CSK have made it look easy. A boundary now. Raina has got to his fifty. 22 off Tye’s over. Dhoni to play the last over. 1 to win. A six?
11:40 PM IST

Seven runs off Mohit’s first five balls and Dhoni pulls the final ball for a boundary. He brings up his 4,000 IPL runs. CSK need 23 off final 2 overs.
11:28 PM IST

Chahar mis-connects one from Ashwin and Finch takes a simple catch. A brilliant knock from Chahar ends. He departs for a 20-ball 39. MS Dhoni walks out to bat against Ravichandran Ashwin.
11:23 PM IST

End of KXIP’s hopes in IPL 2018. Chahar smacks Ashwin for back-to-back sixes and then a four. CSK finally showing some intent. KXIP’s chances have sunk. CSK get to the 100-mark. 21 off Ashwin’s over. KXIP knocked out.
11:04 PM IST

Ashwin strikes with his first ball. It was the battle of off-spinners. Harbhajan goes for a wild heave but that was a carrom-ball that went straight and struck his back leg. Bhajji is trapped plumb in the front. Surprise. Deepak Chahar comes in at No.6.
10:46 PM IST

Rajpoot finishes his spell with 4-0-19-2. The umpiring hasn’t been of top quality in this IPL. Harbhajan charges down the track and misses a ball that just goes past his shoulder. Umpire Nitin Menon calls it a “no ball”. Rajpoot was infuriated and understandably so.
10:33 PM IST

Incredible spell from Rajpoot. Billings is cleaned up the first ball. Well, Harbhajan Singh to face the hat-trick ball. He comes in at No.5. Why not Dhoni? Harbhajan averts the hat-trick. Oh and Finch drops Harbhajan’s catch in the final ball of the over. This could have been a maiden and 3 wickets.
10:28 PM IST

Gayle has taken a sensational catch at first slip. He takes it reverse cup millimetres off the ground. This is incredible stuff, truly Universe Boss like stuff. Faf du Plessis departs. Ankit Rajpoot is rewarded for some brilliant bowling.

Head-to-head it’s 10-8 in favour of CSK © AFP

Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab: Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live coverage of the VIVO IPL 2018. The Match 56 of the tournament, between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at Pune is the last league game of the tournament. As usual, we will bring you the live updates and interesting tweets from the cyberspace.

CSK have already advanced to the playoffs but the result of this game will determine where they end up in the points table, at number one, two or three. A win can take them to the top spot, a defeat may see them not change positions and a defeat by huge margin can also see them slip to the third spot and if that happens, instead of Qualifier 1 they will head to the Eliminator.

IPL 2018: Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab, Match 56 at Pune: Preview, Predictions and Likely XIs

A big margin win will see KXIP through to the playoffs, only if Mumbai Indians (MI) do not chase down 175 against Delhi Daredevils in the ongoing Match 55. What they can do is give their best shot? They have power-hitters in their ranks like Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Aaron Finch, Yuvraj Singh, etc. They might look to get in David Miller for this game.

KXIP should not have been in this position in first place. Having won five of their first six matches, they lost six of their next seven to find themselves in such position.

Likely XIs

CSK: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Sam Billings/Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Lungi Ngidi.

KXIP: KL Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, Karun Nair, Yuvraj Singh/Manoj Tiwary, Marcus Stoinis/Mujeeb Ur Rahman/David Miller, Akshar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma/Barinder Sran, Ankit Rajpoot.

Editorial team of CricketCountry.