Tahir snares four wickets to restrict KKR to 161/8

Imran Tahir snared four wickets as Chennai Super Kings (CSK) restricted Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to 161/8 in 20 overs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) return leg fixture at the Eden Gardens, here on Sunday.

Recording his best figures (4/27) in the competition, Tahir bowled a game-changing 15th over to account for Chris Lynn (82; 51 balls; 7x4 6x6) and Andre Russell (10) to dent the KKR's surge.

Russell who came into tie with six 40-plus scores hit Tahir for a four and a six before getting out with the scoreboard reading 133/5.

The 40-year-old removed Nitish Rana (21) and Robin Uthappa (0) in the 11th over to start the KKR's slide after they were asked to bat first by visiting skipper MS Dhoni.

In the last five overs, the hosts could muster only 28 runs with only one four at the cost of three wickets. Shardul Thakur (2/18), who along with Tahir was the other architect of Chennai's choke, removed Shubman Gill (15) and Piyush Chawla (0) in the final over.

Earlier, Lynn had given KKR a flying start, hitting Deepak Chahar for two back-to-back fours in the first over.

Though Shardul followed it up with a brilliant over, giving away just two runs, there was no stopping Lynn. He continued his onslaught on Chahar, smacking him for two fours and a six in the third over as the Rajasthan pacer conceded 14 runs.

Narine holed out to Faf du Plessis at long on trying to clear the boundary off Mitchell Santer, whose six in the last ball helped Chennai beat Rajasthan Royals.

KKR raced to 49/1 after the Powerplay overs with Lynn doing the bulk of the scoring. The dashing Australian opener brought up his 50 in the ninth over off 36 balls.

For CSK, Tahir dismissed Rana and Uthappa in the same over, both holing out to du Plessis with the latter being a superb catch. Du Plessis took the catch running 25 yards from the long-off fence.

It was Tahir again, first dismissing Lynn, caught at deep square leg by Shardul, and four balls later silencing the crowd by sending Russell back to the hut with substitute Dhruv Shorey taking an excellent catch at long on.

Karthik failed to get going as he sliced a Shardul delivery high in the air for du Plessis to take his fourth catch at long off. Karthik could score only 18 runs.

Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 161/8 in 20 overs (Chris Lynn 82; Imran Tahir 4/27) vs Chennai Super Kings

--IANS

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