Chennai’s openers once again got the team off to a flying start, adding 73 for the first wicket. Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 35 off 20 and was cleaned up by Suyash Sharma. Conway (56 off 40) scored his fourth half-century in a row before falling to Varun Chakaravarthy.
With a great platform having been built by the openers, Rahane and Dube capitalized on it and went absolutely berserk. Rahane struck six fours and five sixes in his spectacular innings, while Dube’s innings featured two fours and five sixes.
After Dube fell to Kulwant Khejroliya looking for another big hit, Ravindra Jadeja came in and contributed a quick 18 off 8, which included two sixes. For KKR, young leggie Suyash stood out amid the carnage with figures of 1/29.
Chasing 236, KKR needed a rapid start, without losing too many wickets. Instead, Sunil Narine (0) was cleaned up Akash Singh, while N Jagadeesan fell to Tushar Deshpande for 1. Venkatesh Iyer (20) and Nitish Rana (27) looked good, but could not make significant contributions.
Jason Roy (61 off 26) was the standout batter for KKR. He seemed to be batting on a different pitch and whacked five fours and as many sixes before being bowled by Maheesh Theekshana. Rinku Singh (53 not out off 33) scored another valiant fifty, but it only reduced the margin of defeat, brining it under 50 - still a big loss by T20 standards.
Speaking after the game, Player of the Match Ajinkya Rahane commented, “Just had a clear mindset. If the thing between your ears is right, your mind is right then you'll be fine. I'm just trying to enjoy my game. The wicket was a bit sticky, but once you are in you have a great chance. We had a great start, and after that I wanted to play my shots and keep the momentum.”
Rahane asserted that he feels his best is yet to come. Speaking about his impressive performances so far, he said, “I've enjoyed all my knocks so far, I still feel the best is yet to come. It is a great learning, I've played under Mahi [Dhoni] bhai for India for many years, and now even at CSK it has been a great learning. If you listen to whatever he says, you will more often than not perform.”
--By A Cricket Correspondent