Chennai: South African skipper Faf du Plessis (43 n o, 45b, 3×4) led from the front as his unbeaten knock helped Chennai Super Kings (CSK) overcome Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by seven wickets in a low-scoring encounter here at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Tuesday.
With this win, CSK regain the top spot with 10 points from six games while the Kolkata outfit drop down to second with eight points from similar number of games.
Chasing a small target of 109 runs, the CSK openers Shane Watson (17) and Du Plessis started on a cautious note before the former Australian skipper was dismissed off the bowling of Sunil Narine (2/24).
However, Du Plessis sticked to one end as he put 46 runs with Ambati Rayudu (21) for the third wicket and an unbeaten 30-run partnership for the fourth wicket to see the team home.
Earlier, CSK bowlers delivered yet again to restrict the visitors to 108/9. KKR never recovered from the early loss of wickets and found the going tough to finish with a below par score despite an unbeaten half century from Andre Russell (50 n o, 44b, 5×4, 3×6).
A lot depended on the in-form Russell after a poor show from the batting unit. He played the only way he knows, going for big shots, and succeeded to a certain extent.
The under-rated Deepak Chahar (3/20), rattled the KKR top-order with early strikes, including that of the big-hitting Chris Lynn (0) as the visitors struggled to 29/4 in the powerplay.
Harbhajan Singh (2/15), Imran Tahir (2/21) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/17) put the brakes on the KKR batting with a disciplined effort.
KKR were under pressure from the word go as Lynn and Narine (six) fell within the space of five balls. Nitish Rana (0) became Chahar’s second victim, taken smartly by Ambati Rayudu. Robin Uthappa (11) played a couple of good shots, before perishing to a pull which landed in the safe hands of Kedar Jadhav at deep-square leg.
A lot was expected of skipper Dinesh Karthik (19) but he flattered to deceive, hammering a shot off Tahir straight into the hands of Harbhajan at mid-wicket, to leave KKR in trouble at 44/5.
That KKR’s 50 came up only in the 12th over, indicating how much their batsmen struggled to come to grips with the surface at Chepauk.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 108/9 (Andre Russell 50 n o; Deepak Chahar 3/20, Imran Tahir 2/21) lost to Chennai Super Kings 111/3 (Faf du Plessis 43 n o, Sunil Narine 2/24) by seven wickets.