AGAIN CSK DID IT AND JUMPED TO THE TOP OF THE POINTS TABLE !

Chennai Super Kings made it three wins in a row and jumped to the top of the table by beating Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 33 of TATA IPL 2023 at the Eden Gardens.

Ajinkya Rahane’s whirlwind 71*(29), Shivam Dube’s blistering 50 (21) coupled with consistent Conway’s stylish 56 (40) powered CSK to a mammoth 235/4. A collective bowling effort saw the bowlers pick up regular wickets and restrict KKR to 186/8 to achieve a comprehensive win.

This grand total of 235 , the CSK won the match

Chasing 236, Kolkata Knight Riders were rocked early as opener Sunil Narine was cleaned up by CSK’s Impact Player Akash Singh without opening his account, off the fourth ball of the innings. N Jagadeesan departed in the second over as he sliced one to deep point where Jadeja pouched a very good sharp, low catch .

Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana then got together and steadied the ship. The duo hit two fours and a six each as KKR reached 38/2 at the end of the Powerplay. Jason Roy, who had injured himself while fielding, then came out all guns blazing hitting three consecutive sixes off Moeen Ali. But Ravindra Jadeja made an impact straightaway as he had Rana caught at deep mid-wicket after being hit for a four off the previous ball. KKR hobbled to 76/4 at the halfway mark.

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Roy brought up his fifty, off just 19 balls, with a slashed four to third man off Pathirana. Roy cracked a couple of fours off Theekshana but the Sri Lankan spinner bounced back hard to clean him up with a yorker on 61(26).

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana won the toss and elected to bowl. They made three changes to the side as David Wiese, N Jagadeesan and Suyash Sharma replaced Liton Das, Mandeep Singh and Venkatesh Iyer. They named Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Liton Das, Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh as their substitutes.CSK made one change to the starting XI as Ambati Rayudu replaced Akash Singh. They named Akash Singh, Dwaine Pretorius, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rashdeed and Rajvardhan Hangargekar as their substitutes.

CSK introduced their Impact Player Akash Singh, replacing Ambati Rayudu, at the start of their bowling innings.

Lakshay Sharma (MJMC II)