Chennai: Noor Ahmed has been struggling for rhythm in recent times but Chennai Super Kings have never lost faith in him. He stuck with the left-arm wrist-spinner and the Afghan star led a shambolic Kolkata Knight Riders to their second win on the bounce against Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday. Chasing 193 for victory on a pitch where the ball was stopping a bit, the game was in the balance with KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane looking to take the game deep.Rahane (28 off 22 balls) is the best player of spin, but he couldn’t clear the infield and was caught at mid-off which led to disaster. Noor (3-21) removed an off-colour. Cameron Greenewho did not know which way the ball was turning, the next ball. And in his next over, when Noor caught ‘finisher’ Rinku Singh in the deep, the game was well and truly over. Rovman Powell and Ramandeep Singh put in a bit of effort towards the end, but it was just about making the margin of defeat, in this case 32, look a little more respectable.
While Noor’s spell played a crucial role, CSK won both the power plays that set up the game for them. While batting, Sanju Samson and No. 3 Ayush Mahatre helped CSK reach 722, which greatly helped them reach 192-5. As Sanju (48 off 32 balls) hit a hat-trick of boundaries off medium pacer Vaibhav Arora, Ayush’s 38 off 17 balls was the standout batting performance of the day.The youngster from Mumbai took a heavy loss on Green for 21 runs in an over and then hit three consecutive fours. He was dismissed by Vaibhav, but he was done.Even while bowling, CSK’s pace bowlers got it right in the powerplay as KKR completely messed it up. Khalil Ahmed and Anshul Kamboj with the new opening pair swing the ball a bit. Sunil Narayan And Finn Allen is struggling to move on. Allan fell to Kamboj while Narine was dismissed by Khalil, as 36-2 in six overs piled the pressure on KKR.Rahane briefly tried to break free, dismissing rookie medium pacer Gurjapaneet Singh for 19 in a single over, but it was a mere flash in the pan.
CSK vs KKR
