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What a contest cricket fans were treated to on Sunday evening. It was the three-time champions Chennai Super Kings who were up against a resurgent side and two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders and in the end of it all, it was the MS Dhoni-led team which eventually emerged as the winner.
However, it wasn't as easy as it looks since there were lots of ups and downs throughout the match. Chennai had done well in the middle overs of the Kolkata innings, thanks to a good finish led by Dinesh Karthik 26 from 11 deliveries. Rahul Tripathi (45) and Nitish Rana (37*) laid the foundation for that flourish towards the end which saw them get to 171/6.
In response, Chennai were looking like they were going to finish it off with ease. However, the Kolkata franchise who seemed to have taken the win from CSK by scalping a few quick wickets. With 26 runs required to win from the final two overs, one would have thought, it could be a win for Kolkata but all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja who had earlier scalped (1/21) returned to play a game changing innings of 22 from 8, hitting Prasidh Krishna for two fours and two sixes in the penultimate over before getting out in the final.
However, by the time the scores had already been levelled and Deepak Chahar made the solitary 1 run needed to complete the match off the final ball of the match and helped Chennai to register a narrow 2-wicket win.
The result has again taken CSK back to the top of the table with eight wins and 16 points and a net run rate better than of Delhi Capitals who also have the same points. Meanwhile, a victory for CSK also has made for a very interesting battle for the number 3 and number 4 places in the playoffs with the top two spots more or less confirmed by Chennai and Delhi.