Chennai Super Kings (CSK) survived scares from Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik and Pat Cummins to beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 18 runs in a high-scoring IPL 2021 thriller at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Batting first, CSK posted 220/3 in their stipulated 20 overs and left KKR reeling at 31 for five before Russell (54 off 22), Karthik (40 off 24) and Cummins (66 off 34) fought back to take their side close to the target. However, Deepak Chahar, with his superb fast bowling spell of 4-0-29-4 in the powerplay, had done enough damage for the Super Kings to hold on for their third win of the season.
An absolute thriller here at The Wankhede as @ChennaiIPL clinch the game by 18 runs.
Scorecard – https://t.co/jhuUwnRXgL #VIVOIPL #KKRvCSK pic.twitter.com/vf9MfM4phz
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 21, 2021
In the meantime, Shah Rukh Khan, the KKR co-owner, was quite impressed with his team’s performance after the powerplay. He took to Twitter and lavished praises on Russell, Karthik and Cummins for their valiant efforts against Dhoni & Co.
“Coulda…woulda…shoulda can take a backseat tonight…@KKRiders was quite awesome I feel. (oops if we can forget the batting power play!!) well done boys… @Russell12A @patcummins30 @DineshKarthik try and make this a habit…we will be back!!” tweeted SRK.
Coulda…woulda…shoulda can take a backseat tonight…@KKRiders was quite awesome I feel. ( oops if we can forget the batting power play!!) well done boys…@Russell12A @patcummins30 @DineshKarthik try and make this a habit…we will be back!! pic.twitter.com/B1wGBe14n3
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) April 21, 2021
With a solitary win and three back to back defeats in four games, KKR finds themselves in a spot of bother, but the co-owner believes there is nothing to worry about after the fight they showed against CSK. He is confident that his team would bounce back.
KKR now have to play just one more match in Mumbai – against Rajasthan Royals (RR) – then will move to Ahmedabad for their next four games.
