Suresh Raina scored a half-century and shared a match-winning stand with Ravindra Jadeja, who contributed with a fearless 17-ball 31 as Chennai Super Kings outclassed Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday. Earlier, Imran Tahir claimed his IPL-best figures of 4/27 to help CSK restrict KKR to a 161 for eight in their allotted 20 overs. The visitors chased down the target with two balls to spare, with Suresh Raina unbeaten on 58 and Ravindra Jadeja not out on 31.
Needing 24 runs off the last two overs, Jadeja smashed Harry Gurney for three successive fours to make it just a formality in the last over. This was the defending champions’ fourth win on the trot as they consolidated their position atop the table with 14 points and one more win will virtually seal their spot in play-offs whose cut-off over the years has been 16 points.
This was also their first win at the Eden Gardens since 2013 as they did a double on KKR who suffered a hat-trick of defeats for the first time since 2014 and set to slip out of their second place in the table.
Incidentally, 161 is their lowest score at the Eden garden ground this season. KKR next face Royal Challengers Bangalore here on April 19.
