Clinical Kolkata Knight Riders tame Chennai Super Kings

KOLKATA: Kolkata Knight Riders continued their winning run, taking a step closer to a playoff berth by defeating Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in their first 'home' game at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
Sunrisers Hyderabad's win over Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier in the day gave KKR a two-point cushion over both their immediate rivals, which they extended to four points to stay ahead in the race for a playoff berth.
KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir struck to his winning formula of winning the toss and putting the opposition in as they restricted CSK to 154/4 in their 20 overs.
It was once again a strong opening partnership between Gambhir and Robin Uthappa which did half the job for the hosts. However, CSK, in spite of being confirmed a playoff spot on Tuesday, need to look at their fielding.
In their last match in Ranchi, they dropped Royal Challenger Bangalore's AB de Villiers, who took the match away from them, and on Tuesday they dropped in-form Uthappa twice.
Uthappa's 39-ball 67 led KKR's victory charge and Shakib Al Hasan finished things off with a superb 21-ball 46.
Uthappa was first dropped by Ravichandran Ashwin at first slip off Ben Hilfanhaus, coming in place of David Hussey, in the fourth ball of the innings when the batsman was on six.
He again got a life on 24, when none other than Suresh Raina dropped him at first slip off Mohit Sharma. Even Brendon McCullum was guilty of dropping Manish Pandey later in the innings, making it a forgettable night for Chennai.
Although the flow of run dried up after the departure of both openers, their 64-run opening-wicket stand in seven overs set the tone of the KKR innings.
CSK bowlers were also guilty of not bowling to their field, which helped KKR batsmen to score freely and reach the victory target in 18 overs.
Earlier, KKR made an early inroad when Pat Cummins, who replaced Morne Morkel in the XI, cleaned up red-hot CSK opener Dwayne Smith in the second over of the day. The Australian pacer, who bowled a wicket-maiden, couldn't have dreamt of a better start to his IPL 7 campaign.
Smith's partner McCullum, though, made amends by hitting Cummins for two sixes -one over third man and another over cover.