A stupendous bowling performance from defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) restricted batting power-house Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to just 134/6 in an Indian Premier League encounter at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday.
It was a collective effort from the KKR bowlers as they maintained a nagging line and length and kept CSK on a tight leash. While the pacers where brilliant upfront, the tweakers too were able to cast a web on the CSK batsman. Faf du Plessis top scored with an unbeaten 29 from 29 balls.
For the Knights, Piyush Chawla and Russell got two wickets each, while veteran 44-year-old chinaman bowler Brad Hogg picked up another.
The Super Kings got off to a bit of a flyer courtesy their hard-hitting openers again. Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Bravo stitched together a 42 run partnership in 4.3 overs.
The Knights finally got the break-through when McCullum (19) failed to pick a Piyush Chawla googly and was adjudged leg before.
The innings stuttered after the jolt, as both Smith (25) and number three Suresh Raina (17) quickly followed the New Zealander into the dugout.
After being 48/1 from five overs, CSK managed to get to 73/3 at the halfway stage.
South African du Plessis and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (3) looked to consolidate, but Russell struck again as he induced the Indian to glove one to the keeper off a fiery bouncer.
Darren Bravo (5) too lasted only a few balls, but Ravindra Jadeja and du Plessis took the total past the 100-run mark in the 16th over.
Australian pacer Pat Cummins then bowled a tight 18th over which yielded just 6 runs, Hogg followed it up with another crafty over cleaning Jadeja (15) up and giving away just three runs.
