In what was expected to be a heavyweight contest, KKR crumbled to a sedate 108/9 after being put in to bat first. Both teams fielded unchanged XIs for this match.

After Rayudu missed a direct hit run out an opportunity to trap Naraine in the fifth ball of the match (That went on to become an overthrow ), Chahar foxed Lynn LBW and sent back the Australian for a duck, When KKR's score was 6 

In the Next two subsequent overs, Chahar was involved in a catch in Naraine's wicket that was picked up by Harbhajan as he dismissed the Trinidadian for just 6 runs to win an intense tactical battle. 

Then Chahar picked up his second wicket by dismissing Nitish Rana for a duck. Rayudu took a sharp catch at Short fine leg to complete the process. 

In the next over of Chahar's spell, Utthappa played a rather outrageous shot, Only to get out caught by Jadhav at deep mid wicket with a score of 11 in 9 balls, In an innings which had 2 fours.

Even the CSK fans would have expected something substantial from the local lad opposition captain Dinesh Karthik. His innings though, Did not last long, As he played a whippy flick towards Harbhajan at the midwicket and got out caught off Tahir's bowling, For a 19(21) including 3 fours. The score was 44/5 in 8.4 overs at that point.

KKR's melancholic state of being continued as Shubmann Gill fell as the next wicket i
In a failed attempt of overbalancing himself, Gill got out stumped by Dhoni in a Googly that came from Tahir's armory. Gill's contribution was just 9 runs. 

Another stumping followed to complete the seventh wicket, As Harbhajan adjusted the length as soon as he saw Chawla stepping out. , Chawla's 13 off 8 balls, Had a six; The first of KKR's innings 

The very next delivery of that over, saw the exit of Kuldeep Yadav for no score, by virtue of a mix up between Russel and Kuldeep, Rayudu from backward point, Threw the ball to Harbhajan and a run out was executed.

In the subsequent over, the 17th of the match, Prasidh Krishna became the 9th batsman to fall; and the fourth batsman to fall without scoring, as Harbhajan completed yet another catch.Jadeja was the bowler on this occasion.

Amidst such Oneway traffic of wickets, Andre Russel battled his way through to exactly 50 not out off 44 balls with Five fours and three sixes.

English bowler Harry Gurney did his duty of facing 5 balls and eventually taking a single in the first ball off the last over, that enabled Russel to get a strike and ultimately reach a half-century, His Second fifty of the season.

Chasing 109, CSK's Shane Watson and Suresh Raina were dismissed by Sunil Naraine for 17 (9 ) 2x4 1x6 and 14(13 ) 1x4 1x6 respectively. Both the catches were taken by Chawla. While the first one was a straight forward chance at square leg, The second one was a stunning catch, Which was completed in by a process of charging back from mid-on and it finally became an awesome outfield catch. The ball had actually flew off the bottom half of Raina's bat 

From 35-2 (5) to 81/2 (14.3), There wasn't any big trouble to CSK's innings. Yet, A top edge by Rayudu to Rana off Chawla's bowling, Ended a knock of 21 off 31, Which had two fours. A knock that could hardly be blamed as it came on such an extremely sluggish track.

Finally, CSK reached the target 108 in 17.2 overs As the men in yellow touched 111/3.

The winning runs came in the form of 5 wides. Faf du Plessis stood through to see CSK win the fourth consecutive game at home. Deepak Chahar won the man of the match award for a match-defining spell of 3/20. CSK's string of four away games begin. The team is scheduled to travel to Jaipur to face the Rajasthan Royals on Thursday night.

-Kumaran Kumanan

Pic Courtesy : iplt20.com