Rana played an outstanding knock of 37 runs off just 27 deliveries and remained unbeaten while Karthik made 26 runs off 11 balls.
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A solid partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Nitish Rana saw the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) reach a strong score of 171 runs for the loss of six wickets against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday. The men in yellow had started the game quite well, picking up crucial wickets at regular intervals. The KKR batting unit, whose top order delivered consistent performances ever since the restart of the competition in the UAE, could not deliver on the day. The CSK bowlers did a fine job of restricting the KKR batters from hitting the big shots and it seemed like the men in purple would struggle to get to a score in excess of 150 at one point. Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja did a fine job of drying up the runs and taking wickets for MS Dhoni’s men.
The KKR batting unit did not seem like the well-oiled machine that it looked like in the past couple of games. This time, they had to rely on their middle-order to bail them out of a tough situation and get them to a defendable score. Openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer scored nine and 18 runs respectively. Rahul Tripathi did a fantastic job at the top of the innings as he scored 45 runs off 33 deliveries. He is gradually becoming one of the mainstays in the KKR starting eleven for the long term. Skipper Eoin Morgan did not have a good day with the bat as he only managed to score eight runs.
It was ultimately the trio of Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, and Dinesh Karthik who bailed the men in purple out. KKR were 89-4 after Tripathi’s departure. Rana played an outstanding knock of 37 runs off just 27 deliveries. He remained unbeaten until the end. His partnership with Karthik is what fueled KKR to a score in excess of 170. The wicketkeeper made 26 runs off just 11 deliveries. All-rounder Russell also chipped in with an invaluable cameo of 20 runs off 15 deliveries.
The CSK bowlers might not have been able to restrict Eoin Morgan’s men from reaching a big score, but there were a lot of positives they could take from the performance. Pacer Shardul Thakur was the pick of the bowlers as he picked two wickets in his four overs and conceded only 20 runs. Ravindra Jadeja also did a masterful job as he picked one wicket in his four overs and conceded just 21 runs. Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood was also among the wickets but he was expensive. Hazlewood picked two wickets and conceded 40 runs in his four overs.
It will be interesting to see how CSK manages the run chase on a surface that might very well go against them. The KKR bowlers have shown in the past couple of games that they can make effective use of the surface they are playing on. CSK, on the other hand, have a vastly experienced batting unit that will know how to score runs on any kind of pitch. The second half of the match does seem to be an exciting prospect on paper.
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