In a league of their own! Chennai Super Kings were at their ruthless best against Kolkata Knight Riders in the final of IPL 2021, winning by 27 runs. MS Dhoni has now led the CSK side to four titles and are second only to Mumbai Indians’ five.
CSK’s batters played with freedom and scored at a good rate led by Faf du Plessis who scored 86 as they posted 192. KKR started off well with openers Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gill scoring fifties and putting on a 91-run stand before Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja engineered a collapse. No one apart from the openers made any significant contributions for KKR with the highest being 20 from Shivam Mavi.
Chennai Super Kings Bat First
Having won the toss and opted to field first, KKR started proceedings with spin as Shakib Al Hasan took his place at the top of his mark. CSK openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis picked off 6 runs with the Indian sweeping for the first boundary of the game.
Shivam Mavi came in for over number 2 and beat the bat of Gaikwad twice, delivering four dot balls in the over which saw CSK score only three runs.
Off the third over, Shakib’s second, Karthik missed a chance to stump Gaikwad, who immediately made it count, hammering the spinner for a six and four on the leg side to make it a productive 13-run over. CSK had quickly released the pressure and moved on to 22/0 in 3 overs.
Gaikwad was well on his way and played Lockie Ferguson away for a boundary before Faf got in the act too with a rasping drive through mid off. CSK were 34/0 after 4 with Ferguson giving away 12 in his first.
Mavi then bowled an 8-run over with Faf finding the fence over mid-on. CSK were well and truly on their way and looked set for a big total.
KKR turned to Varun Chakaravarthy who bowled well and kept the batters from getting away up until the fifth delivery when he overstepped and Faf smashed the free-hit for a boundary to make it an 8-run over and take CSK to 50/0 at the end of the powerplay.
Just ahead of the seventh over, Rahul Tripathi walked off with an injury as Sunil Narine rolled in a six-run over. KKR, apart from needing wickets quickly, would be concerned about one of their main batters. Chakaravarthy returned for his second over after that and kept it tight again, conceding 5 as the players took a break with the score at 61/0 after 8 overs. CSK's openers were well set and KKR were starting to worry.
Ruturaj Gaikwad on the attack in the IPL final.
Image: BCCI
Right after the break, Narine struck, dismissing Gaikwad, who was caught at long off by Mavi as he danced down the track and looked to clear the ropes. Robin Uthappa joined Faf and the duo picked off 4 singles in the over.
Shakib returned for the next over, his 3rd, and looked to contain and build the pressure. But Faf pounced on one that was wide and ended the much awaited big hit as he clubbed it over long-off for a six and then Uthappa hammered the spinner over cow corner for another maximum. CSK at the midway stage were 80/1 and moving along well.
Faf was on the attack and smashed a couple of boundaries and then a six of Ferguson to complete his fifty in the 11th over. At the other end, Uthappa went for it too as the KKR spinners took a bit of a hammering, especially Chakaravarthy.
KKR turned to Narine in the 14th over and he struck again, trapping Uthappa LBW for a well played 31 off 15 to finish his spell with figures of 2/26.
Morgan turned to Iyer after that in the 15th and he bowled a good 6-run over, not allowing Moeen Ali and Faf du Plessis to find the boundaries. CSK with 5 overs to go were 131/2.
The two batters were in fine form as KKR's bowlers struggled under pressure with Ferguson and Mavi both going for plenty of runs, conceding 41 in the next three overs as CSK moved on to 172/2 with 2 overs to go.
Faf and Moeen plundered 20 off the last two with the South African finishing with 86 as CSK asked KKR to chase down 193.
KKR Give It Their All
In response, KKR openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer too looked comfortable, with the southpaw being afforded a life as MS Dhoni dropped a catch, surprisingly, when he was on 0. Iyer made that count, finding the boundary regularly and in style, mostly through a packed off side field to leave CSK’s bowlers frustrated.
While Iyer was playing some exquisite shots he was also running hard with Gill, who at his end though was finding it a tad bit tougher to pierce the field. Iyer’s attacking start helped KKR move on to 55/0 at the end of the powerplay, keeping them on track with the required rate.
After the powerplay, CSK turned to Dwayne Bravo rather early and he tightened things up with a couple of overs that saw him give away only 8 runs. However, Iyer was looking to target Jadeja, hammering him for a couple of massive sixes on his way to his half-century. Gill then got into the act with a couple of cracking boundaries of Jadeja after his dismissal was overturned when replays showed that his hit caught the spidercam as Ambati Rayudu took the catch. Jadeja's second over costed him16 runs as Gill was starting to cut lose.
However, CSK turned to Shardul Thakur as the opening partnership started causing them more concern and he struck immediately, like he does so many times. Iyer went to clear the field on the offside and was caught brilliantly in the deep by Jadeja for 50. KKR finished the 11th over with the score at 93/2 as Nitish Rana was dismissed for a first ball duck a few deliveries after Iyer's dismissal.
A few deliveries after that, Nitish Rana was dismissed for a first ball duck as Thakur picked two wickets in the over. Off the next Sunil Narine was caught by Jadeja in the deep off Josh Hazlewood, reducing KKR to 97/3. The openers had put on a 91-run stand to set them off on the chase.
Soon after, Gill pounced on a lose one from Jadeja and went inside out over cover for a boundary to complete his half century.
Soon after that Gill was trapped LBW by Chahar as he tried to improvise after which Jadeja struck twice in the same over, removing DInshe Karthik for 9 and Shakib for 0 in the 16th over. KKR were reduced to 120/6 with Morgan joined by Tripathi.
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