Kolkata: Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube scored blistering half-centuries to help Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 49 runs at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
Inserted into bat, Chennai put up a stellar show with the willow, posting a mammoth total of 235/4 in their 20 overs. The opening duo of Ruturaj Gaikwad (35 off 20) and Devon Conway put on a blistering partnership of 73 runs in just 7.3 overs to lay the foundation for the team.
Ajinkya Rahane then walked in and put on a partnership of 36 runs with Conway. The left-handed Conway scored his fourth consecutive half-century of IPL 2023, smashing a superb 40-ball 56. After Conway’s departure, Rahane and Dube took the attack to the bowlers.
Then came the 14th over of the innings when Rahane smashed 22 runs off Umesh Yadav. The first ball was flicked by Rahane nonchalantly over fine leg for a six. The second ball resulted in another six – Rahane played a scoop shot and the ball went sailing over short fine leg.
The third boundary was a special one. Umesh bowled an overpitched delivery, and Rahane leant into it in style and caressed it past cover for four.
Dube too was outstanding, scoring a quickfire 21-ball 50, taking on the spinners in the middle overs. Rahane was the star of the show, scoring a fantastic 71* off 29 deliveries, as Chennai posted a massive total.
Chasing a massive target of 236, Kolkata lost both their openers with just one run on the board.
While Narine was cleaned up by Akash Singh, N Jagadeesan was dismissed by Tushar Deshpande. Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana put on a partnership of 45 runs for the third wicket. Venkatesh and Rana departed in quick succession to leave Kolkata reeling at 70/4.
Jason Roy and Rinku Singh then forged a stand of 65 runs for the fifth wicket. While Roy top scored with a 26-ball 61, Rinku scored 53* off 33 deliveries. In their 20 overs, Kolkata were restricted to 186/8.
