Super Kings halt Knight Riders’ winning run

Chennai Super Kings completed a comprehensive victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders to register their first win of the competition.

Super Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. They started on the backfoot as the hosts bowled in the right areas at the start, giving away very little. Super Kings managed just 31 runs in the Quick Start period after having losing Mathew Hayden. Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina put on a 37-run partnership for the second wicket but Chennai needed to get a move on. After the two of them got out in quick succession, MS Dhoni and Subramaniam Badrinath were at the crease. The two of them did well to get their eye in and ensured that the visitors did not lose any more wickets. They turned the advantage in their favour with 61 runs in the Extreme Performance overs, pushing their total to 164. This put them well above Kolkata on the Castrol Index.

The visitors carried momentum into the second innings. They pegged the Knight Riders back with Brad Hodge’s wicket in the very first over. Another couple of wickets came their way as Kolkata were reduced to just 45 for three at the end of the Quick start overs. None of the middle order batsmen played themselves in on the two paced pitch and paid the price by losing their wickets and getting into a position from where no recovery was possible. The hosts kept sliding further back in the contest before being bowled out for a paltry 109, well short of their target. Justin Kemp was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets for just 12 runs off his three overs.

MS Dhoni was adjudged Man of the Match for his unbeaten 66 off just 33 balls in the first innings. He achieved it with a Batting Momentum of 132.