It is title number four of MS Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings as they won the IPL 2021 title by beating Eoin Morgan-led Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in the final in Dubai.
In a chase of 193, KKR openers matched their CSK counterpart. Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gill took Kolkata to 59/0 in just 7 overs. Iyer got to his fourth 50 but soon after, he was dismissed by Shardul Thakur.
The CSK bowler struck again in the same over after getting rid of Nitish Rana for a golden duck. In the next over, Josh Hazlewood got the wicket of Sunil Narine (2) before Deepak Chahar removed Gill on 51. KKR were 5 down as Jadeja sent Dinesh Karthik packing on 9. Eventually, KKR were restricted to 165/9 in 20 overs, with Thakur picking three wickets.
Earlier in the innings, Ruturaj Gaikwad overtook Punjab Kings’ skipper KL Rahul in the ‘Orange Cap’ race and provided a strong start to CSK along with fellow opener Faf du Plessis.
By the end of the 8th over, CSK cruised to 61/0 against KKR in Dubai. Eventually, Sunil Narine provided the breakthrough by dismissing Gaikwad on 32.
Du Plessis then brought up yet another 50, and with able support from Robin Uthappa, took CSK to 104/1 after 12 overs.
The two brought up their 50-run stand before Uthappa was caught LBW by Sunil Narine. Eventually, du Plessis smashed 86 off 59 balls, missing the Orange Cap by 2 runs, to power CSK to 192-3 in 20 overs.
Moeen Ali (37*) and Robin Uthappa (31) played handy cameos. (Hindustan Times)
