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

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.
10:09 PM IST

Ankit Rajpoot bowls a fantastic first over. KXIP bowlers are testing du Plessis and Rayudu outside off-stump. Mohit gets Rayudu. Gets the ball to shape away, Rayudu gets an edge to Rahul’s gloves.
9:48 PM IST

KXIP have been bowled out for 153. Thanks to Karun Nair’s 26-ball 54 that helped them to this score. It’s certainly not enough and Punjab will have to restrict CSK to 100 or below in order to advance to IPL 2018 Playoffs.
9:39 PM IST

Ngidi strikes double in his fourth over. Gets Ashwin to edge to Dhoni. Ngidi hears a faint sound, the umpire thinks otherwise. CSK review and win it. Tye perishes soon. Ngidi registers figures of 4-1-10-4. He has bowled 16 dot balls.
9:29 PM IST

Today has been a day of classic catches. Sam Billings has pulled off a stunner. Akshar pulls but doesn’t get enough wood. Billings from deep midwicket run in, dives forward and pulls off a great catch. There’s no stopping Nair though. He follows the wicket with a four over extra cover and a pull for six.
9:24 PM IST

A good partnership building between Karun Nair and Akshar Patel. Nair will be the key if KXIP have to get a respectable total. Interestingly, both the batsmen haven’t hit a four yet. Nair has struck 2 sixes and Patel has hit a six too. Shardul Thakur is brought into the attack.
9:07 PM IST

Bravo gets his yorker right. That’s superb, right on the money and the well-set Miller looses his stumps. KXIP have lost half their side. This has been a disappointing show from KXIP. They need to win by 53 runs in order to advance to Playoffs and that’s unlikely…
9:03 PM IST

Jadeja ends the Miller, Tiwary partnership. Manoj looks to clear the deep midwicket, gets a faint edge to Dhoni’s gloves. Jadeja strikes with his first ball. A lot depends on Karun Nair and David Miller now.
8:40 PM IST

The partnership is building between Tiwary and Miller and this is what KXIP need now. Having lost their top order early they are only left with Karun Nair, Axar Patel and Ashwin in the dugout.
8:38 PM IST

This was the first single digit score for KL Rahul in IPL – 11. #CSKvKXIP

— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) May 20, 2018
8:27 PM IST

Lungi Ngidi is on fire here. He has bowled 2 overs off which one was a maiden and conceded only one run of the other picking up the main wickets of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul. This is the real test of KXIP’s middle order here.
8:20 PM IST

2 wickets in 2 overs for CSK and they are on top of the game since the start. If KXIP thought that winning with a margin over 53 runs maybe easy then they may have to think twice here, especially with CSK as opposition. KL Rahul will be the key for KXIP here.
8:08 PM IST

Lungi Ngidi strikes early for Chennai as Chris Gayle has to depart for a duck. Early strike for the home team. Not to forget KXIP need to win by a margin of 53 runs to qualify and the wicket ins’t helping for them.
7:44 PM IST

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni(w/c), Sam Billings, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi
7:38 PM IST

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul(w), Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, David Miller, Karun Nair, Manoj Tiwary, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma, Ankit Rajpoot
7:38 PM IST

CSK opt to bowl in the final match of the knockout stage of IPL 2018. Kings XI Punjab will have to win the match by a fair enough margin to make a place in the playoffs. Can they do it?

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.

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.

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.