Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Kolkata Knight Riders winning the toss invited Chennai to bat first and did their job brilliantly by restricting CSK to just 131/5. Umesh Yadav was brilliant in the powerplay while the spin duo of KKR didn't allow Chennai batters to score runs and kept the run-rate of CSK below par. For CSK, only MS Dhoni's 50*(38) ended up being saving grace as none of the other batters stepped up for CSK to push them for better score. Robin Uthappa gave a brilliant start to the innings but he faltered for 28(21).
Kolkata chasing 132 got off to a very good start with the help of Rahane's classy innings. They never had any challenge of chasing this average score during any stage of the game. For CSK, only Dwayne Bravo impressed with his bowling skills by picking 3 wickets from nowhere. While defending such a score, CSK was missing the services of powerplay specialist Deepak Chahar earlier during the 2nd innings.
Numbers and stats from CSK vs KKR Match 1:
6 - KKR have won 6th inaugural game of an IPL edition (out of 7), which is most for any team (Only Inaugural match lost by KKR was against CSK in 2011).
15 - Ambati Rayudu has been dismissed by run-out for the 15th time in IPL.
Most times getting run-out in IPL:
Shikhar Dhawan - 16
Gautam Gambhir - 16
Suresh Raina - 15
Ambati Rayudu - 15
AB de Villiers - 14
24 - MS Dhoni has smashed 24 fifty-plus scores as keeper in IPL, which is most for any player.
Most fifty-plus scores in IPL as wicket-keeper:
MS Dhoni - 24
KL Rahul - 23
Dinesh Karthik / Robin Uthappa - 18
38 - Spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine conceded only 38 runs in their quota of 8 overs against CSK and picked a key wicket of Uthappa. The duo single handedly choked CSK's batting lineup and restricted their score to just 131 runs.
40 - At the age of 40 years & 262 days, MS Dhoni became the oldest Indian to smash a fifty-plus score in IPL.
170 - Dwayne Bravo has become the joint-highest wicket-taker (170) along with Lasith Malinga in IPL.
2020 - MS Dhoni smashed his first fifty in IPL since 2020. Last time MS Dhoni smashed a fifty in IPL was against RCB on 21st April, 2019.