IPL 2020: CSK Restrict KKR To 172/5

Dubai: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the toss and chose to bowl against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 49th match of Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday. CSK restricted KKR to 172/5. Nitish became the highest run-scorer of the first innings.

KKR openers Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill had a good start. Both the batsmen scored good runs by the end of powerplay. With their unbeaten partnership, KKR's total score stood at 48 for no loss at the end of powerplay.

However, Karn Sharma bowled Gill in the 8th over. Gill's departure at 26 runs off 16 balls was a big blow to KKR. KKR's total score was 53 with the departure of its first wicket.

In next big blow to KKR, Sunil Narine departed in the 9th over. Mitchell Santner dismissed Narine while KKR could score 7 more runs before his departure. Narine scored 7 runs off 6 deliveries.

In the mid-way (10 overs), KKR was 70 runs with loss of 2 wickets.

Meanwhile, Nitish's strikes helped KKR garner good runs. Nitish hit two boundaries and big six in one over of Santner.

Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Rinku Singh in the 13th over. Rinku scored 11 runs off 10 deliveries.

However, Nitish scored his 11th IPL fifty in the match. He scored his fifty in 44 deliveries.

KKR scored 100 runs in total in the 15th over.

Before Nitish could score a ton in the innings,  Lungi Ngidi dismissed him in the 18th over's first ball. Nitish scored 87 runs off 60 balls.

In the last over, KKR skipper Eoin Morgan departed scoring 15 runs off 11 balls.

Dinesh Karthik remained unbeaten and scored 21 runs off 10 deliveries while Rahul Tripathi scored only 3 runs off 2 balls.

KKR scored 172 runs at loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs giving a winning target of 173 runs to CSK.

CSK continue to experiment with their squad in the final matches of the league stage. Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Monu Kumar have been replaced by Karn Singh, Lungi Ngidi and Shame Watson.

KKR have dropped Prasiddh Krishna for Rinku Singh.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Eoin Morgan (captain), Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Varun Chakravarthy

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper, captain), N Jagadeesan, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Karn Sharma, Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi

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