Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs in the final of IPL 2021 at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday. With this win, Chennai have now clinched their fourth IPL title. It completes a remarkable comeback for Chennai, who were placed seventh last season and won their fourth IPL trophy in a campaign which started with a loss.
Chasing 193, the way KKR openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer started the chase, it looked like the target would not be that difficult. But once they were out, Kolkata’s chase fell through as they lost wickets at regular intervals to end up with 165/9 in their 20 overs.
Gill pulled the first ball of the innings over mid-on off Deepak Chahar. Iyer, dropped at zero, swatted Josh Hazlewood over backward square leg for a powerful six. The run-fest continued as Gill and Iyer crunched seven fours between themselves to give Kolkata a great start.
Iyer tore into Ravindra Jadeja with two sixes before reaching his half-century in 31 balls. Gill, who survived a caught dismissal as the ball touched the Spidercam wire, hammered Jadeja for back-to-back boundaries. The 91-run opening partnership was ended by Shardul Thakur in the 11th over as Iyer holed out to long-on. From 120/6 in 15 overs, the result was a foregone conclusion. Shivam Mavi and Lockie Ferguson struck well-timed boundaries but at the end, it was too little too late for Kolkata. Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 192/3 in 20 overs; Kolkata Knight Riders 165/9 in 20 overs.
KKR survive scare
Earlier, riding on a brilliant 50 by Venkatesh Iyer, Kolkata Knight Riders overcome a dramatic collapse to beat Delhi Capitals by 3 wickets in a low scoring Qualifier 2 of the IPL 2021 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Chasing 136 runs for victory, openers Iyer and Shubman Gill gave Kolkata a solid start. The duo mixed caution with aggression and took KKR to 51/0 after 6 overs. Even after the powerplay, both the openers continued in the same vein, taking KKR to 76/0 in 10 overs.
Kagiso Rabada, finally gave Capitals a breakthrough as he dismissed Iyer. The youngster played a quickfire knock of 55 runs in 41 balls and stitched a 96-run opening stand with Gill. After Iyer’s wicket, Nitish Rana joined Shubman Gill in the middle. But Rana couldn’t do much and got out to Anrich Nortje after scoring 13 runs. In the next over, Gill also got out and things took a dramatic turn as KKR collapsed from 125 for 2 to 130 for 7. But Rahul Tripathi held his nerve to hit a sixer and finish the game for KKR when six runs were required off 2 balls in the final over. Earlier in the day, openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan gave Delhi Capitals a solid start, scoring 32/0 after 4 overs. However, Kolkata bounced back with the wicket of Shaw (18), who was dismissed by Varun.
