IPL: Chennai stop Bangalore’s momentum to go top again and Kolkata move into third

Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 167-7 in 20 overs (Manish Pandey 33, Gautam Gambhir 31, Yusuf Pathan 30, Robin Uthappa 30; Karn Sharma 2-29) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 132-9 in 20 overs (Moses Henriques 41, Karn Sharma 32; Umesh Yadav 2-34, Brad Hogg 2-17).

Kolkata Knight Riders’ Umesh Yadav and Brad Hogg both struck twice and decisively to derail Sunrisers Hyderabad from chasing down the required 168. Kolkata had frittered away a solid start but with four of their batsmen scoring in the 30s they set a target that proved decisive.

The victory carried the Knights to the third spot in the league table with 11 points from 10 games. Sunrisers are still fifth with eight points from nine outings.

Earlier in the night, the Knights were off on a canter as captain Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa plundered 50 runs of just 5.3 overs.

However, Gambhir fell soon thereafter trying to hit Karn Sharma for a biggie. Uthappa and Jamaican hard-hitter Andre Russell followed their leader soon.

The 100 came up in the 13th over, and just as Kolkata looked settled with Manish Pandey and Ryan ten Doeschate, Pandey exited. Three more wickets fell and Kolkata scraped past the 160-run mark.

Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings, 148-9 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 52, MS Dhoni 29; Mitchell Starc 3-24, Harshal Patel 2-19, David Wiese 2-29) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 124 in 19.4 overs (Virat Kohli 48, Dinesh Karthik 23; Ashish Nehra 3-19, Darren Bravo 2-17, Ishwar Pandey 2-28).

Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 24 runs and stop their four-match unbeaten streak as they returned to the top of the points table at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Suresh Raina’s 52 piloted Chennai to 148 for nine in 20 overs and in reply, RCB were bowled out for 124 runs in 19.4 overs despite captain Virat Kohli’s 48.

Following this win, Chennai registered their seventh win in 10 matches. They have 14 points – same as Rajasthan Royals.

But the MS Dhoni-led side has a better run rate and have also played a game less than Royals. However, Bangalore’s third place was not affected and they have nine points from as many matches.

Earlier, Chennai won the toss and elected to bat. They did not have a particularly bright start after West Indian Dwayne Smith was bowled for zero by Australian pacer Mitchell Starc.

The other opener, Brendon McCullum (20) also departed early after raising hopes of putting together a partnership with Suresh Raina (52).

But Raina remained unperturbed by the setback and scripted a 64-run third-wicket stand with South African Faf du Plessis (24).

The Raina-du Plessis partnership did not allow the run-scoring momentum to dip. But Bangalore broke the momentum in the 15th over when pacer Harshal Patel dismissed both du Plessis and Raina.

The twin blow dampened Chennai’s initiative and they struggled to force the pace from there on, managing to score only 47 runs in the last five overs.

Dhoni (29) unleashed some powerful hits to the fence to get their total close to the 150-run mark. But even his best efforts looked modest as his team lost wickets at regular intervals to manage just an average total.

But even that average total proved enough as Bangalore kept losing wickets at regular and critical intervals.

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