April 20, 2013
Brief Scorecard: Chennai Super Kings 124 for 6 beat (Hussey 40, Jadeja 36*) Kolkata Knight Riders 119 for 9 (Jadeja 3-20, Ashwin 2-21) by 4 wickets
Jadeja and Bravo celebrate after their team's win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL match in Kolkata on Saturday, April 20, 2013
April 20, 2013
Brief Scorecard: Chennai Super Kings 124 for 6 beat (Hussey 40, Jadeja 36*) Kolkata Knight Riders 119 for 9 (Jadeja 3-20, Ashwin 2-21) by 4 wickets
Jadeja and Bravo celebrate after their team's win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL match in Kolkata on Saturday, April 20, 2013
NEW DELHI: A mesmerizing all-round performance by Ravindra Jadeja inspired Super Kings to beat Knight Riders by 4 wickets in their IPL 6 match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Chasing a 120-run target, Chennai Super Kings seemed to lose the plot when they lost a flurry of wickets.
However, Jadeja (36* off 14 balls) showed his worth with a remarkable display of batting to lead the Super Kings to victory with 3 boundaries and 3 sixes to credit.
Earlier, Ravichandran Ashwin (11), who was promoted up the order and opened in place of Murali Vijay, put up a 24-run partnership with Michael Hussey before being caught by Sachithra Senanayake off the bowling of Sunil Narine.
Straight after, Senanayake struck with the ball to catch Vijay (2) plumb and send the Chennai batsman back to the dug-out.
Yusuf Pathan then got the all-important wicket of the dangerous Suresh Raina (7) when the southpaw was caught at long on by Narine to leave the visitors three down.
The Super Kings then suffered a big blow when their skipper MS Dhoni (9) fell short of his crease and was spectacularly run out by Eoin Morgan at the bowler's end.
Jacques Kallis then further dented Chennai's hopes when his slower ball bouncer found the better of Subaramaniam Badrinath's stumps, who completely failed in sweeping the ball.
Soon after, Laxmipathy Balaji was finally able to scalp Hussey (40) after the Aussie, who hit 2 boundaries and a single six, was caught by Pathan at deep square leg.
Earlier, Chennai bowling proved too hot for Kolkata Knight Riders to handle as the Dhoni-led side restricted the hosts to 119/9.
After the Kolkata Knight Riders openers gave the home team a good start, Chennai Super Kings marched their way back into the match with a flurry of dismissals.
Gautam Gambhir and Pathan put up a swift 46-run partnership for the opening wicket right after KKR won the toss and decided to bat against Chennai.
However, the moment was short-lived when Chris Morris proved elementary in dismissing Gambhir (25) when the KKR skipper was caught at third man by Hussey.
Kallis was next to in line to be dismissed when he was run out without facing a ball after some sublime work in the field by Badrinath.
Dwayne Bravo then joined the party when he scalped a precarious Eoin Morgan (2) after the KKR batsman hit a slower delivery high up in the air for Ravindra Jadeja to take a simple catch.
Ravindra Jadeja smokes one down the ground, Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings, IPL 2013, Kolkata, April 20, 2013
Soon after, Pathan (25) was caught amidst confusion between him and Manoj Tiwary and was therefore run out in the process. Pathan hit 4 boundaries in his innings.
The Knight Riders then seemed to revive their innings with a steady 27-run partnership between Debabrata Das and Tiwary, but Ravichandran Ashwin had other plans when he dismissed the duo.
While Das (19) was caught plumb by the Indian offie, Tiwary (14) in his attempt to hit a flamboyant shot was caught deep in the outfield by Mohit Sharma.
Jadeja then asserted his dominance and rubbed more salt on the Kolkata wound when he dismissed Rajat Bhatia (1), Laxmi Ratan Shukla (1) and Sunil Narine (13) in quick succession.
While Manvinder Bisla has been replaced by Shukla, which would allow Das to keep wickets for the Knight Riders, the Super Kings are heading into this match with an unchanged side.
Pushed to the bottom half of the table after yet another away defeat, Kolkata Knight Riders would look to bounce back in the tournament in this top-draw fixture against a resurgent Chennai team.
The Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (Capt), Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Debabrata Das (wk), Rajat Bhatia, Sachithra Senanayake, Sunil Narine, Laxmipathy Balaji, Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt and wk), Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, Subaramaniam Badrinath, Ravindra Jadeja, Albie Morkel, Chris Morris, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohit Sharma.
Courtesy: PTI
