IPL 2018: Shubman, Karthik power KKR to 6-wicket victory against CSK

In the 33rd match of Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL 2018), Kolkata Knight Riders beat Chennai Supers Kings by 6 wickets, thanks to Shubman Gill's half-century

In the 33rd match of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, Kolkata tasted victory at home as youngster Shubhman Gill shined with the bat and scored his maiden half century. With the win, KKR move to third position in the VIVO IPL points table. Gill contributed with a significant knock that sealed the victory for the host side. The bowlers did not get much help from the pitch but still, wickets fell at regular intervals for both sides. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and asked Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to bat first at the Eden Gardens. 

Shane Watson and Faf Du Plessis opened for CSK and the batsmen did not face much resistance from the bowlers. Soon, there came a turn as Faf Du Plessis was trapped under experienced leg-spinner Piyush Chawla's googly. It was a smooth sailing for Chennai during the major portion of their batting. Chennai crossed the 100-run mark in the 12th over and Kuldeep yadav got the better of Raina in the same over. Sunil Narine struck a blow to Chennai by removing in-form Ambati Rayudu at a  cheaper score this time. Dhoni swung into action and kept sending the ball into the crowd, during the process he got a lifeline too as he was dropped in the 18th over. Chennai put up a target of 178 runs.

  

Chasing a  target of 178 runs, Kolkata Knight Riders openers Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn came to bat and Lungi Ngidi got an early breakthrough as Lynn walked back towards pavilion in the first over. Robin Uthappa replaced Lynn, Narine got two consecutive lifelines, courtesy below-par efforts from Ravindra Jadeja who dropped him twice in the second over. After Narine, Shubhman Gill and Rinku Singh kept the fight alive for a brief. Gill continued scoring runs for the team and made his fifty, Karthik gave him company and contributed 45 runs. 

IPL 2018 MATCH 33 KKR VS CSK SCOREBOARD

Copy: Match 32: RR vs DD
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Kolkata Knight Riders innings update: Over by over

Kolkata Knight Riders playing XI for today's match: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Rinku Singh, Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Shivam Mavi, Piyush Chawla, Mitchell Johnson, Kuldeep Yadav. Change: Nitish Rana out, Rinku Singh in.
 

Over 1: Lungi Ngidi to Chris Lynn, started off with a bouncer, dot ball. Another dot ball followed by 2 consecutive sixes. Dot ball. Loud appeal umpire declines and Dhoni took a DRS and yes its OUT as Ngidi gave CSK first breakthrough. KKR: 12/1

Over 2: KM Asif to Sunil Narine, started off with bouncer, no run. Top edge for no run. Dot ball followed by a six over Long-on of another short ball. Ball in air and Jadeja dropped it, unbelievable and 2nd drop by Jadeja of two consecutive balls. KKR: 18-1

Over 3: Ngidi continues, Glanced for four by Uthappa. CSK: 32-1

Over 4: Watson comes to bowl, single. Another single. Dot ball. Uthappa pulls but for no run. Played towards third man for one. Narine swings and gets the top edge, goes for four. KKR: 39-1

Over 5: Asif continues WIDE. Drive for no run. Uthappa hits high in the air, taken. Finally, Asif gets a wicket. Uthappa gone for 6. Narine hits it to the third man, and Harbhajan misfields, gone for four. Swing and a miss. Dot ball. Bouncer, missed. KKR: 44-2

Over 6: Watson to continue, Gill defends. Pulled for four by Gil, fine shot. Dot ball. How fine was that edge, brilliant shot for four. Dot ball. Brilliant cut for four. KKR: 56-2

Over 7: Jadeja into the attack, SIX for Narine. Dot ball. He has hit it again, Bravo takes the catch, Sunil Narine dismissed. He goes for 37. Rinku Singh is the new man in. Cuts for two. Single to finish the over. KKR: 67-3

Over 8: Harbhajan Singh comes to the attack, and Rinku has hit it for a clean four, lovely shot that is. Good late cut but no run. Well left. Bottom edge, Dhoni could not pouch it, no run. Another dot. Single to end the over. KKR: 72-3

Over 9: Jadeja continues, cut for one. Dhoni stumps, gone upstairs, NOT OUT. WIDE, runs to the boundary. Missed it again. Single to Rinku. Dot to end the over. KKR: 80-3

Over 10: Harbhajan continues, four run. Another single. Dot ball. Dot again. Pulled for four. KKR: 90-3

Over 11: Jadeja continues, Single to Gill. Rinku defends. WIDE. Pushed to the leg side for one. Played with soft hands and takes two. KKR: 96-3

Over 12: Bhajji continues, dot ball. Another dot. One run to Gill. Bowled, Rinku Singh is gone. Out for 16. KKR: 97-4. Dinesh Karthik is the new man in, dot ball. Karthik cuts for four, opens his account. 100 up for KKR. KKR: 101-4

Over 13: Bravo is the new bowler, Shubman Gill hits him over the cover for four. Straight down the ground for one. Bouncer, given as wide. One run to Karthik. Single to end the over. KKR: 109-4

Over 14: Karn Sharma is the new bowler, two runs taken. One run. Brilliant running, two runs. Karthik swept the fourth ball four followed by a single in the deep fine leg region. Another single to end the other. KKR: 120-4.

Over 15: Asif is back, Gill wack him for a huge six, what a shot. Cuts, finds the fielder. Cuts again, double to Gill. Cut over third man, Ambati Rayudu gives a desperate attempt, goes for SIX. Now Karthik hits for six. KKR: 141-4

Over 16: Jadeja continues, Gills takes double. 50 for Shubman Gill.  Here comes the counterattack. Four for Gill. Another four. KKR: 155-4

Over 17: Ngidi comes in, Four, brilliant shot, pulled behind the wicket for four. Single taken. Another single. Soft hands, easy single. Wide. Intelligent cricket. Another single to end the over. KKR: 165-4

Over 18: Bravo into the attack, glance away for four. Double. WIDE. Flicked away for four. Just two more needed. And there is the winning shot, four runs. KKR: 180-4. Win by 6 wickets.

Kolkata Knight Riders innings analysis at the end of the match

Chasing the modest total of 179 runs, Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine opened the innings for Kolkata Knight Riders. Lungi Ngidi came to bowl the first over and after playing two dot balls Lynn hit two consecutive sixes of the 3rd and 4th ball but he got perished of the last ball on DRS. KM Asif came to bowl the 2nd over and Narine hit the 4th ball of the over followed by 2 drop catches by Ravinder Jadeja unimaginable. Nigidi continued from the other end and Narine hit two consecutive four of the 2nd and 3rd ball, as he showed what a costly dropped it was. Nigidi conceded 14 runs of his 3rd over. Watson came to bowl the 4th over and started off with a wide as he conceded 7 runs in his 4th over. KM Asif came to bowl the 5th over and started off with a wide and took the Robin Uthappa wicket of the 2nd ball. Asif conceded 5 runs in his 2nd over. Shubman Gill came to the crease after the wicket of Narine. Watson came to bowl the last over of the powerplay and Gill hit 3 fours to collect 12 runs. Jadeja came to bowl the 7th over and Narine hit the second ball for 6 followed by a double but Narine got perished while hitting another six and Jadeja took the revenge but at the cost of 32 runs. Harbhajan came to bowl the 8th over and Rinku Singh hit a classic inside-out shot for four over the cover fielder but Harbhajan Singh pulled it back for CSK as he gave away only 1 run in his last 5 balls. Jadeja came to bowl the 9th over and gave away 8 runs in his 2nd over. 

Kolkata Knight Riders needed 98 runs in 66 balls with a required run-rate of 8.9 runs per over.

Harbhajan continued from the other end and Singh again hit the first ball for four as Bhajji conceded 10 runs in his 2nd over. KKR were scoring with a brisk pace as they were keeping the run rate in check. Ravindra Jadeja came to bowl 11th over and conceded 6 runs in his 3rd over. Harbhajan Singh came to bowl the 12th over of the innings and took the wicket of Rinku Singh of the 4th ball. Karthik came to the crease after the wicket of Rinku Singh (16 runs off 18 balls) and hit the last ball of the over for four in the short third-man region. Bravo came to bowl the 13th over and Shubman Gill hit the 3rd ball for four over the extra cover region as KKR collected 8 runs in the 13th over. Karn Sharma came to bowl the 14th over and KKR collected 11 runs. Asif came to bowl the 15th over and Gill collected 14 runs with two help of 2 sixes. Karthik too hit a six of the last ball as Asif conceded 21 runs in his 3rd over. Jadeja came to bowl the 16th over and Gill took double of the first ball to complete his fifty, followed by a four. Jadeja collected 14 runs as required run-rate was under 6 runs per over. Ngidi came to bowl the 17th over and gave away 10 runs. CSK bowlers gave away 54 runs in 4 over, which made the life easy for KKR and KKR won the match by 6 wickets.

Chennai Super Kings innings update: Over by over

Chennai Super Kings playing XI for today's match: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Lungi Ngidi, KM Asif. Change: No change in the squad. 

Over 1: Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis to open for Chennai Super Kings. Mitchell Johnson to start it off for Kolkata Knight Riders. Nice line to start the over, right onto the body, no run. Similar delivery, Watson wanted one, sent back. Not a very good looking straight drive, yet it goes for four. Wide yorker, directed towards third man for one. Short pitched ball to Faf, very close to the body, he slashes, takes the edge for four through slip. Very decent ball onto the body, just one. CSK: 10-0

Over 2: Piyush Chawla comes in. Flighted overpitched ball, no run. Swept, misses everything, no run.  Cracking square cut for four, very poor fielding. Dot ball. Lofts over the in-field, beats the man running, goes for four. Dot to finish the over. CSK: 18-0

Over 3: Shivam Mavi is the new bowler, good line to begin with. Dot ball again. Very tight line and length from Mavi, very impressive. Watson almost played it onto his stumps, Faf completes a risky single. Inside edge, goes for four. Single to Faf. Good bouncer. CSK: 24-0

Over 4: Sunil Narine comes to the attack. Single to Faf. Watson pulls for a four. Dot to end the over. CSK: 29-0

Over 5: Johnson continues, cracking shot but equally well fielded, just one. Watson hits it straight back at Johnson, hit him hard on shoulder, and still goes for four. Straight drive, fielded at long-off. SIX, what shot. CSK: 48-1

Over 6: Chawla comes in, Faf failed to read the ball, clean bowled. Suresh Raina is the new man in, lifts it over the in-field for four. Raina pulls for four. Good ball. missed. CSK: 57-1

Over 7: Russell comes to bowl, cracking shot for four. Single. Singel. CSK: 69-1

Over 8: Kuldeep Yadav is the new bowler, Slogged for four. CSK: 75-1

Over 9: Mavi is back, one run to Raina. Good ball, played onto the pads. Nicely driven for one. Awkward short for one. Single. CSK: 81-1

Over 10: Yadav continues, Just two runs, Another single. Finally Watson connects and gets a SIX. CSK: 90-1

Over 11: Narine continues, Raina pulls for one. Watson pulls and gets caught at long-on, he looks disappointed. Out for 36. CSK: 91-2. Amabti Rayudu comes in. Single taken. Nicely pulled behind the wicket for one. Rayudu sweeps for four. CSK: 97-2

Over 12: Yadav continues, one run. Quick single.Well driven for double.Raina pulls and gets caught at the boundary rope. Raina goes for 31. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the new man in, Good shot for one. Just one for Raina. CSK: 103-3

Over 13: Johnson is back, dot ball to start the over. Thick outside edge for four by Rayudu. Straight shot for one. Pulled for one. Brilliant line. Width on the off side, yet not put away for four. CSK: 110-3

Over 14: Piyush Chawla comes to the attack, glanced for one. Well swept behind the wicket for four. Fine leg is inside the circle, well fielded. Chipped in the air, safe. Dot ball. CSK: 117-3

Over 15: Narine continues, pulled in the air, just falls short of the fielder. One run. Well bowled onto the pads. Single towards the off side. Brilliant ball, right through the defence of Ambati Rayudu, CLEAN BOWLED. He goes for 21. Ravindra Jadeja is the new man in, takes a single. Single to Dhoni, keeps the strike. CSK: 121-4

Over 16: Mavi is back, flicked for one by Dhoni. WIDE ball outside the off. Single to Jadeja. Swing and a miss for Dhoni. Dhoni pulls it from outside off for a huge six. Single to end the over. CSK: 131-4

Over 17: Johnson is back, no run. Dhoni pulls for a flat six. Punched through covers for one. Slower ball to Dhoni, no run. Dhoni hit it very high in the air and still goes for SIX. Chipped for one. CSK: 146-4

Over 18: Yadav to continue, One run. Another single. Dhoni pushes it through covers for a single. WIDE. Cover drive by Jadeja for one. Gill has dropped Dhoni's catch on the ropes and it has gone for a six. CSK: 158-4

Over 19: Narine continues, single to Dhoni. Dot balls. Double taken. Single to Jadeja. Single to Dhoni.CSK: 163-4

Over 20: Chawla to finish it off, one run to Dhoni. Drive by Jadeja for two. Hit down the ground for four. Swing and a miss, and keeper Karthik misses it as well, goes for four. Hit high in the air, out. Jadeja goes for 13. Four to end the over. CSK: 177-5

Chennai Super Kings innings analysis after 20 overs

Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and asked MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings to bat. Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis opened the batting for CSK while Mitchell Johnson came to bowl the first over of the innings for Kolkata Knight Riders. Johnson started the over with 2 dot balls followed by a straight drive hit by Shane Watson. After Watson took a single off the 4th ball and Faf du Plessis collected a four of the outside edge as ball went past the flying slip. Jonshon conceded 10 runs in his first over. Piyush Chawla came to bowl the 2nd over and du Plessis hit the third and fourth ball for four as he collected 8 runs of the Chawla’s first over. Shivam Mavi came to bowl the 3rd over and bowled brilliantly as CSK Watson took a quick single off the first ball. Mavi conceded 6 runs his first over. 

After the end of the 3rd over Chennai Super Kings scored 24 runs with Shane Watson (6 runs off 8 balls) and Faf du Plessis (18 runs off 10 balls) on the crease

Shane Watson and Faf Du Plessis opened for CSK and scored runs without facing many challenges from the bowlers in the initial overs. Runs kept coming comfortably for Chennai and Kolkata Knight Rider bowlers just watched the ball fly in different directions. Soon, there came a turn as Faf Du Plessis was trapped under experienced leg-spinner Piyush Chawla's googly. Kolkata got the breakthrough but Suresh Raina kept sending the ball towards the fence. CSK were 57/1 after 6 overs.

Russell to came to bowl the 7th over and started off with a dot ball. Raina hit the 2nd ball for four in the leg-side region followed by another four of the 3rd ball. Russell conceded 12 runs of the 7th over. Kuldeep Yadav came to bowl the 8th over and bowled brilliantly to concede 7 runs in his first over. Shivam Mavi came to bowl the 9th over and conceded only 9 runs as CSK were scoring at the run-rate of 9 runs per over.

Kuldeep Yadav continued from the other end and gave away 2 runs of the first 3 balls as Yadav mixing his deliveries to restrict the run flow. But he didn’t finish the over well as Watson hit a six straight down the ground. Narine came to bowl the 11th over and took the massive wicket of Watson (36 runs off 25 balls) of the 2nd ball as Mavi held his nerves to take a beautiful catch at the boundary line-up. Ambati Rayudu came to the crease after the fall of the 2nd wicket and hit the 5th ball for four in the square leg region. While Kuldeep Yadav continued from the other end and gave away 4 runs before he took the wicket of Raina, IPL top run-scorer, as he dragged the ball from off side to the long-on fielder. Dhoni came to the crease after the dismissal of Raina (31 runs off 26 balls )as Yadav conceded 6 runs and took a wicket in his 3rd over

Johnson came to bowl the 13th over and outside edge of the Rayudu bat went for four. Johnson conceded 7 runs in his 3rd over. Chawla came to bowl the 14th over and bowled brilliantly to concede 7 runs in his 3rd over. Sunil Narine came to bowl the 15th over and clean bowled Rayudu of the 4th ball who scored 21 runs off 17 balls. Ravindra Jadeja came to the crease after the dismissal of Rayudu as Narine choked the run flow to bring the run-rate down to 8 runs per over. 

Shivam Mavi came to bowl the 16th over and started with a dot ball as he only gave away 3 runs in first 4 balls before Dhoni hit the 5th ball of the for six in the mid-wicket region. Mavi conceded 10 runs in his 3rd over. Johnson came to bowl the 17th over and Dhoni dispatched the 2nd ball for six over the square leg boundary followed by a double in the cover region. Dhoni continues his power hitting as he hit the 5th ball for six over the long-on boundary. Johnson conceded 15 runs in his final over. Kuldeep Yadav came to bowl 18th over and bowled brilliantly well but Shubman Gill dropped the MS Dhoni catch which went for six, this might be a costly drop. Yadav conceded 12 runs in his final over. Sunil Narine came to bowl the penultimate over and gave away 1 run in his first 3 balls. Narine choked the run flow as he conceded only 5 runs. Chawla came to bowl the 20th over, Karthik asked 3 spinners to bowl the last 3 overs of the innings, interesting! Ravindra Jadeja danced down the ground and hit a boundary straight down the ground followed by 4 byes, free runs and Chawla took the Jadeja’s wicket of 5th ball. But Dhoni hit the last ball of the innings for six to bring the momentum back.

Match Preview

Back in the IPL after a two-year hiatus, the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led outfit have till now won six games out of eight and just lost two. Dhoni has led from the front, playing some blistering knocks including a 22-ball 51 in the previous game against Delhi Daredevils which CSK won by 13 runs. MS Dhoni has looked every inch like his old self with 286 runs in eight matches at 71.50. Dhoni rolled back the years with his 44-ball 79 against Kings XI Punjab, showcasing some of his trademark shots and showing glimpses of the flair which made him one of the best finishers of limited-overs cricket. Though CSK lost that game, they never looked like a team struggling to get going in IPL 2018. Besides Dhoni, Ambati Rayudu has been superb with the bat as well, amassing 370 runs at 46.25. In the last four matches, Rayudu has scores of 41, 46, 82 and 79.

Also, Veteran Australian opener Shane Watson has looked good too with a century to his name against Rajasthan Royals, a team he won the inaugural IPL with in 2008. Watson's 40-ball 78 in the last encounter underlined the fact that his big-hitting skills are still in the right place despite being on the wrong side of 30 and along with South African skipper Faf Du Plessis, they make a deadly combination at the top of the batting line-up.

On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders registered a morale-boosting six-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last game in the IPL 2018. After a harrowing 55-run loss against Delhi Daredevils, Chris Lynn starred for Dinesh Karthik's KKR with an unbeaten 52-ball 62 as wrist spinners Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav also looked good. KKR are fourth in the Vivo IPL points table with four wins and the same number of losses. They have looked good in patches so far and against a formidable side in CSK, the men in purple will have their task cut out. KKR's consistent performer Nitish Rana got injured in the last game and had to be retired hurt for 15. A lot will once again rest on West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell who has been KKR's go-to-man this season. Kuldeep and Piyush will have to weave their magic with the ball to restrict Chennai and look for early wickets along with mystery spinner Sunil Narine. In their last meeting, CSK won a humdinger by five wickets with one ball to spare. KKR don't have a good track record against CSK, losing 12 times out of a possible 19.

Here are a few things to know before the Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders (CSK vs KKR) match to be played at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the two teams' players who could prove handy, and who has said what before the clash:

What Akash Chopra said about the Dhoni’s form: Former India batsman Aakash Chopra believes that Chennai Super Kings have the best batting unit in IPL 2018 and the way their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has rewound the clock is sensational. "Chennai Super Kings is one side who are playing with only five batsmen and they are still good enough to score 200 runs nine out of 10 times. So they (CSK) currently is the best batting unit in the IPL. Dhoni is taking too much time, may be T20 format is no longer his primary format because what he could do at 25, he is not able to do at 35. But then the way, he has turned it around, the second wind seems to be stronger than the first and he has rewound the clock. It is absolutely sensational," Akash Chopra said.

Our target is to win 4-5 games out of 6 from here on, says Shivam Mavi: Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) young pacer Shivam Mavi said the team's target is to win the next four-five matches from the remaining six from here on, ahead of their crucial clash against table-toppers Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday. "We have been playing some good cricket. We have six matches to go. Our target would be to win the remaining four-five matches from here on," Mavi said.

The big guys still have a lot to give, says Stephen Fleming: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming feels the older guys in his ranks have shown that they still have a lot to give to the Indian Premier League (IPL) and it is their presence in the dressing room that brings about a calmness to the side. "Age isn't really a barrier. Watson is a good example, very professional with what he does and prepares himself well. He's playing extremely well, Bravo is another one, MS Dhoni is not a bad one either. I still think the big guys still have a lot to give. The calmness around the group plays a big part," Fleming said. 

Airtel commercial on IPL 2018 access ought to carry larger disclaimer, says Delhi HC: The Delhi High Court said that Bharti Airtel's advertisements offering "live and free access" to IPL coverage, ought to carry the disclaimer in a larger font size than it has now. Justice Yogesh Khanna made the observation while reserving his decision on a plea by Reliance JIO (RJIO) alleging that Airtel's commercials were "deceptive and misleading". Reliance Jio had claimed that the advertisements "falsely proclaim" that Airtel was offering "live and free" access to T20 cricket coverage and also "falsely represent that a subscriber need only obtain a 4G sim from the defendant company and download the Airtel TV app to obtain a virtual season pass, that is live and free access to T20 coverage".

Team Head to head ahead of today’s match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders (CSK vs KKR)

Overall: 

Matches – 18, Kolkata Knight Riders won – 7, Chennai Super Kings won – 11