IPL 2023: Rana-Rinku’s Powerful Partnership Of 99 Runs Leads Kolkata To Win Against Chennai By Six Wickets
Chennai, 14th May 2023: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) entered the ground with the intention of winning today’s match against KKR and entering the playoffs. But Kolkata Knight Riders’s (KKR) left-arm duo of Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana prevented CSK from becoming the first team to enter the playoffs of the season. The duo put on a powerful partnership of 99 runs for the fourth wicket to overcome Chennai’s challenge of 145 runs by six wickets.
Rinku Singh scored 54 runs off 43 balls. Captain Nitish Rana scored an unbeaten 57 runs off 44 balls in the 61st match of the season held at MA Chidambaram Stadium. Deepak Chahar took three wickets from CSK.
After Chennai challenged KKR to 145 runs, KKR’s openers came out to bat on a bowler-friendly pitch. But KKR’s openers were beaten by CSK’s bowlers. The scoreboard showed 33 runs for three wickets in the power play.
But after this, the left-handed pair of Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana started to break the monopoly of CSK’s bowlers. Nitish Rana and Rinku put on a powerful partnership of 99 runs for the fourth wicket. Rinku scored a half-century of 54 runs off 43 runs.
These two took KKR from 33 for three wickets to 132 in the 17th over. But when victory was near, Rinku was run out. Then skipper Nitish Rana, who completed his half-century, completed the formality of the win with Russell. Nitish Rana scored an unbeaten 57 off 44 balls.
Earlier, Chennai, who were struggling to make it to the playoffs in the 16th season of the IPL, had a tough time against KKR today. Half of their team was bowled out for 72 runs. But left-hander Shivam Dube played an unbeaten knock of 48 runs. Ravindra Jadeja gave him good support by knocking 20 runs.
Opener Devon Conway also contributed 30 runs. Chennai reached 144 for the loss of six wickets in 20. Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine took two wickets each for KKR.
