A four wicket haul from Imran Tahir and a resurgent innings from Suresh Raina guided Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to their seventh win in eight IPL games. The three-time IPL champions got past Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets in the return leg game at Eden Gardens on Sunday.
CSK, who had defeated KKR in their first meeting also, consolidated their spot at the top of the table with 14 points from eight matches.
KKR, on the other hand, slumped to their third straight defeat, remaining on eight points from eight matches.
Tahir (4/27) first played a pivotal role in restricting KKR to 161/8.
Chasing a modest 162 for victory, Raina struck an unbeaten 58 off 42 balls (7x4; 1x6), his 36th IPL fifty, adding 41 runs with Ravindra Jadeja (31 off 17 balls not out; 4x5) for the sixth wicket.
CSK needed 24 in the last two overs, but Jadeja hit Harry Gurney for a hattrick of fours in the 19th over to bring the equation down to eight runs off six balls.
The India all-rounder then creamed Piyush Chawla for a boundary to hit the winning runs as the defending champions won with two balls to spare.
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