Andre Russell smashed an unbeaten 36-ball 88 to help Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) recover from early jitters and post a mammoth 202/6 in 20 overs against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an IPL game, held amidst strong protests on the issue of Cauvery waters here on Tuesday.
There was unprecedented security at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium with a lot of traffic restrictions around the stadium and the arrival of the teams accompanied by tight surveillance. The toss for the game was taken at 7.43 pm, a delay of 13 minutes.
Life in several parts of the city was thrown out of gear after many Tamil outfits staged protests against the holding of IPL matches in Chepauk stadium to demand a Cauvery Management Board from the Centre.
Coming to the game, KKR were reduced to 89/5 at one stage after being put in before Russell (1x4, 11x6) took the home team bowlers to the cleaners with some lusty blows.
The 29-year-old West Indian all-rounder was at it from the word go and in the 19th over smoked compratriot Dwayne Bravo for three back-to-back sixes.
Russell was ably supported by skipper Dinesh Karthik (26 off 25 balls) and Robin Uthappa (29 off 16 balls) at the beginning.
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For CSK, Shane Watson returned best figures of 2/39 while Harbhajan Singh (1/11), Ravindra Jadeja (1/19) and Shardul Thakur (1/37) also picked up wickets.
KKR lost two wickets in the form of Sunil Narine (12), and Chris Lynn (22) who failed to make the most of a reprieve when Deepak Chahar grassed a difficult catch off Harbhajan's bowling.
Narine was sent back by Harhhajan with a tossed up delivery that the West Indian looked to slog down the leg side, holing out to Raina who ran from mid off to complete the catch.
Lynn, who flopped in the first game, hit four fours but never looked fluent, finally going for a wild leg-side heave and losing his stumps off Jadeja's bowling.
KKR were scoring at a good pace despite the loss of the openers riding Uthappa's big hitting. In the sixth over, Vice Captain Uthappa tonked Jadeja for back-to-back sixes but just when he was looking good for a big score, the Karnataka batsman got run out leaving the team reeling at 81/4. Uthappa punched the ball to covers and hesitated while taking the single allowing Raina, still one of the best fielders around, to effect a sharp direct run out.
Nitish Rana (16) had perished before Uthappa, trying to drag a back-of-a-length Shane Watson delivery behind square on the leg side only for keeper Dhoni to take an easy catch behind the stumps.
At the halfway stage, KKR were reduced to 89/5 after the losing yet another wicket of little-known Rinku Singh (2).
Russell and Karthik then joined hands to stem the rot with the former playing the aggressor's role.
Karthik was adjudged lbw against Watson when the recovery was almost done and despite a Decision Review System (DRS) review, he had to make the long walk back.
But there was no stopping Russell to hit Bravo for three successive sixes in the 19th over and finished off in style with another huge six off Shardul.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders: 202/6 in 20 overs (Andre Russell 88, Robin Uthappa 20; Shane Watson 2/39) against Chennai Super Kings.
--IANS
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