Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) locked horns in the final of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday (October 15).
Invited to bat first, CSK piled up a massive 192/3 in their allotted 20 overs on the back of opener Faf du Plessis’ 86 off 59 balls, including 7 fours and 3 sixes. Moeen Ali (37*), Ruturaj Gaikwad (32), and Robin Uthappa (31) also made significant contributions with the bat.
Amid the carnage, Sunil Narine returned with impressive bowling figures of 2 for 26 in his four overs for KKR.
In reply, Knight Riders got off to a brilliant start as the duo of Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer put on 91 runs for the opening wicket. Shardul Thakur drew the first blood for CSK by dismissing Iyer on 32-ball 50 in the 11th over and KKR’s batting line-up collapsed like a pack of cards thereafter.
While Gill perished for 43-ball 51, the likes of Nitish Rana (0), Sunil Narine (2), Eoin Morgan (4), Dinesh Karthik (9), Shakib Al Hasan (0), and Rahul Tripathi (2) failed to reach the double-digit mark.
KKR were reeling at 125/8 after 16.3 overs when Shivam Mavi (20) and Lockie Ferguson (18*) played handy cameos. However, it wasn’t enough as CSK bowlers restricted them to 165/9.
Shardul (3-38), Josh Hazlewood (2-29), and Ravindra Jadeja (2-37) starred with the ball, ensuring a comprehensive 27-run victory and also the fourth IPL title for Chennai.
Cricket fraternity lauded MS Dhoni and company for their remarkable outing in the all-important final and also congratulated CSK for yet another IPL triumph.
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