Kolkata: A stupendous unbeaten fourth wicket partnership between Robin Uthappa and Andre Russell enabled defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) take sweet revenge on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with a seven wicket victory on Thursday.
Replying to CSK’s 165/9, KKR reached 169/3 with seven wickets and a ball to spare before a packed crowd at Eden Gardens.
Opener Uthappa (80 not out from 58 balls) and Jamaican Russell (55 not out of 32) put on a rollicking 112 runs partnership off 64 balls to settle the issue after the hosts were reeling at 57/3 at one stage.
The victory ensured the men in purple moved up to the third place in the table with nine points from eight matches, while CSK retained pole position with 12 points from eight games.
The Knights got off to a solid start reaching 33 in four overs, courtesy of skipper Gautam Gambhir’s two massive sixes. The former India opener achieved a personal milestone of 3000 runs in IPL, but he fell soon after for 19, trying to heave a Mohit Sharma delivery in the fifth over.
The innings stuttered a bit thereafter as the hosts lost Manish Pandey (3) and Suryakumar Yadav (2) in quick succession, but Uthappa and Russell came together to repair the damage and take the total past the 100 run mark in 13.3 overs.
Once settled, both batsmen shifted into top gear as they plundered 29 runs from the 15th and 16th overs, Ashish Nehra and left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja the victims of some terrfic hitting.
Earlier, put into bat, CSK began with a jolt losing dashing opener Dwayne Smith to the very first ball of the innings.
Suresh Raina perished in the fourth over for eight after becoming the first batsman to get past 3,500 runs in IPL. The visitors continued scoring at a brisk rate going past 50 in just 24 balls.
However, KKR’s 44-year-old veteran Brad Hogg (4/29) picked up the dangerous Brendon McCullum (32 off 12) with the score reading 64/3 in 5.1 overs.
Wickets continued to tumble as CSK were 88/5 at the halfway stage.
Dwayne Bravo (30 off 32) and Ravindra Jadeja (24 off 30) steadied the innings with a 57-run partnership before Pawan Negi’s blitz of 27 off 13 balls took them to a challenging total.
For the hosts, Russell returned figures of 2/20.
