Opener Robin Uthappa’s 67 off 39 balls and Shakib Al Hasan’s cameo of 21-ball 46 helped KKR secure an eight-wicket win over CSK at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday. With this win, Kolkata moved a step closer to the play-offs.
It was a perfect homecoming for Kolkata, who were playing their first match of IPL 7 at the Eden Gardens, as the home side chased down Chennai’s 155-run target with two overs to spare.
With their fifth win on-the-trot, KKR have nearly sealed their berth for the playoffs. They now have 14 points from 12 matches and are currently ranked fourth in the table.
KKR’s chances for the knockout round were earlier brightened following the Sunrisers Hyderabad’s seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers in the afternoon game.
KKR started off in a blazing fashion with opener Uthappa creaming the inning’s very first ball for a four, but was lucky to get two “lives” when his edge off Ben Hilfenhaus was spilled by R Ashwin, while Suresh Raina failed to latch on to a difficult chance. Pacer Mohit Sharma was the unlucky bowler.
The 64-run first wicket partnership was broken in the seventh over when skipper Gautam Gambhir (21) was castled by Ishwar Pandey.
In their last seven outings, Gambhir and Uthappa have stitched two century and three half-century partnerships for KKR.
Dhoni continued to juggle his bowlers but could not rein in Uthappa who hit Ravindra Jadeja for a boundary past the keeper to notch up yet another half century.
