Dubai: Chennai Super Kings completed their superb turnaround in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 as they lifted the title after beating Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in the final on Friday. It was also their fourth IPL title in nine finals.
Asked to bat at the Dubai International Cricket Ground, a magnificent knock from veteran Faf Du Plessis (86) powered CSK to 192/3. In reply, KKR, despite a blistering start from their opening duo of Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer crumbled under pressure later on as MS Dhoni’s side restricted them to 165/9 to clinch the title after a gap of two years.
Earlier, the knack of playing a knock in crucial moments of Du Plessis was what propelled the CSK innings right from the first ball. Together with Orange Cap winner Ruturaj Gaikwad (32), the Proteas superstar added 61 runs for the opening wicket before the latter fell to Sunil Narine.
However, it didn’t bother Du Plessis, who rode his way stitching a couple of partnerships to pile up runs at a pace with Robin Uthappa (33) and Moeen Ali (37 not out) both of whom played swashbuckling cameos to get the score past the 190-mark.
Chasing 193, Kolkata built the base well as the opening duo of Gill (51) and Iyer (50) added 91 runs inside 11 overs before the latter fell to Shardul Thakur.
After that, the CSK bowlers started clawing back to the game making things difficult for the opposing batters. When Gill, after playing a steady knock followed his partner to the pavilion in the 14th over, the pressure on the KKR lineup was already quite heavy which they couldn’t escape from and suffered a collapse.
Thakur (3/38) and Josh Hazlewood (2/27), the two picks of the Chennai bowlers made sure the Kolkata didn’t get anything to work within a game that might be the last one for the mercurial CSK skipper MS Dhoni.
Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 192/3 (Faf Du Plessis 86, Moeen Ali 37; Sunil Narine 2/26) beat Kolkata Knight Riders in 165/9 (Shubman Gill 51, Venkatesh Iyer 50; Shardul Thakur 3/38, Josh Hazlewood 2/27) by 27 runs.
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