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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered yet another defeat in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. In the twenty-first match of the thirteenth season, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) overpowered CSK by 10 runs at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Batting first, KKR posted 167 on the scoreboard with Rahul Tripathi scoring maximum 81 runs. In reply, CSK could only reach 157/5, losing the contest by 10 runs. Shane Watson with 50 off 40 balls was the highest scorer of Super Kings.
Though the batting department of CSK disappointed fans, their fielding unit impressed everyone, especially when Ravindra Jadeja and Faf du Plessis combined to pull off a sensational catch near the boundary
It all happened in the final delivery of the 11th over bowled by leg-spinner Karn Sharma. Sunil Narine was on strike, and he went for the glory shot, smashing the ball high over the mid-wicket region, but a spectacular fielding effort from Jadeja ended Narine’s innings.
Jadeja made a full-length dive out of nowhere, and skid parallel along the ground. In the follow-through, Jaddu was about to hit the ropes, but he tossed up the ball to Du Plessis, who completed the catch. Narine scored 17 runs off nine deliveries.
Here is the video:
It's just not safe to hit a six 🆚 #CSK just around the ropes, is it?
Was this @imjadeja's best effort in the field? 😍#Dream11IPL #CricketYourWay #IPL2020 #KKRvCSK pic.twitter.com/svWbvYpCci
— Hotstar Canada (@hotstarcanada) October 7, 2020
“Disappointed that we let it slip”: Stephen Fleming
Chasing 168, CSK were comfortably placed at 99/1 after 12 overs, but a middle-order collapse changed everything, and they ended up with 157/5 in 20 overs.
Speaking about the same, CSK coach Stephen Fleming criticised the batsmen for exhibiting a disappointing show during the chase. He remarked that they failed to accelerate at the end which cost them the game.
“Ideally, you want one batsman to bat through. If you give an opening to an IPL team, they’ve got quality players to take it. Today with Narine holding overs back, it made it very difficult in the end,” said Fleming at the post-match presentation.
“You are looking at players going on and making 75 or more and continue that partnership for five more overs; the game would have been a lot more different. KKR hung in there and put pressure on us. We couldn’t accelerate in the end. We are disappointed that we let it slip,” Fleming said.
Fleming further heaped praises on Karn Sharma, who was playing his first game in IPL 2020. Karn was CSK’s most economical bowler. He bowled 4 overs and conceded runs at an economy of 6.20. The leg-spinner also picked up two wickets.
“Karn has been waiting for a while for the opportunity. And he came in today, he was a bit unlucky, but in the next three, he worked really hard and go us back in the game. If he can get some confidence from this, as the pitches get drier, we can use him in combination with Piyush and Jaddu. We might be able to operate with more spinners which we are used to,” the CSK coach added.
