IPL 2023 CSK vs KKR: Rana, Singh keep Knights’ hope alive for playoffs

Earlier after winning the toss at Chepauk, CSK skipper MS Dhoni chose to bat first, citing the pitch conditions, which normally favours spinners.

CSK Innings:

Batting first, it was not a great day for CSK openers, as they seemed to struggle ahead of KKR bowling attack.

Openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (17) couldn’t shine today and was dismissed by Varun Chakravarthy in the 4th over. Similarly Ajinkya Rahane (16) was unable to shopw his magic and was departed by Varun in the 8th over.

After this, CSK lost Devon Conway (30) in the 10th over, bowled by Shardul Thakur. Ambati Rayudu (4) walked out by Sunil Narine in the 11th over.

However, Shivam Dube (48*) played a classic knock and remained unbeaten. Meanwhile, Moeen Ali (1) and Ravindra Jadeja (20) were dismissed by Narine and Vaibhav Arora in the 11th and the 20th over. By the end of 20 overs, CSK managed to put 144 runs on scoreboard after losing 6 wickets.

For KKR, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine took 2 wickets each, while Vaibhav Arora and Shardul Thakur picked one each.

KKR Innings:

Chasing a target of 145 runs in 20 overs seemed too big for the KKR openers — Jason Roy (12), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (1) and Venkatesh Iyer (9), as all were dismissed by Deepal Chahar in the fifth, first and third over.

However, skipper Nitish Rana (57*) and Rinku Singh (54) set up an important partnership. In the 18th over, Singh was runout by CSK’s Moeen Ali.

But after Andre Russel’s entry, KKR finisshed the match in 18.3 overs and kept alive its hope to face playoffs.

For CSK, Deepak Chahar took 3 wickets.

With this, KKR has won 6 out of 13 matches played and is at the 7th spot in the IPL points table. While CSK is still at the second spot with 7 wins in 13 matches.