Kolkata beat Chennai by six wickets, half-centuries from Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana

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Chennai. In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Sunday, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh scored important half-centuries and easily defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by dominating the spinners. But won by 6 wickets. Chennai had chances to seal their place in the playoffs at home, but Rana and Rinku shared a 76-ball 99-run partnership to help Kolkata chase down 145 with nine balls to spare.

While Rana remained unbeaten on 57 off 44 balls, Rinku made an impressive 54 off 43 balls. Both also achieved the distinction of making the biggest partnership for the fourth wicket against Chennai at Chepauk.

Chennai struck in the opening over when Deepak Chahar ran to his right, driving a full and wide ball from Rahmanullah Gurbaj towards deep backward point. The pacer struck again in the third over, hitting Venkatesh Iyer straight to short third man after hitting two fours.

Rinku made his mark by dismissing Chahar for four at extra cover and ended the powerplay with a six over long-off off Tushar Deshpande. He then proceeded to drive Moeen Ali through extra cover and past a slip to collect back-to-back fours in the ninth over.

Rana eased the pressure on Kolkata by reverse sweeping Moeen for four at the start of the 11th over and was soon relieved for 18 when Mathisha Pathirana squandered a tight chance at deep backward square leg.

When Ravindra Jadeja was introduced in the 12th over, Rinku hit the fast bowler for a six. Rana drives Moeen over extra cover twice for a boundary.

In the 14th over, Rinku again hit Jadeja for a six. After this, Rana hit back-to-back fours off Tikshana.

Rinku completed his half-century in 39 balls on the last ball of the 16th over. He fell to the ground off the last ball of the 16th over, bowled by Pathirana, after which Rana brought up his half-century in the next over in 38 balls. Though Rinku was run out in the 18th over by a direct hit from Moeen, Rana kept the playoff hopes alive by hitting Deshpande at third man in the chase.

Abbreviated Score :

Chennai Super Kings 144/6 in 20 overs (Shivam Dube 48 not out, Devon Conway 30, Sunil Narine 2-15, Varun Chakravarthy 2-36) Kolkata Knight Riders 147/4 in 18.3 overs (Nitish Rana 57 not out, Rinku Singh 54) , Deepak Chahar 3-27) beat by six wickets.
–IANS

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