Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
On Friday, April 11 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated five-time champions, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by a convincing eight wickets at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Coming into the match with four straight defeats, MS Dhoni-led CSK could not surpass the KKR challenge and registered their fifth consecutive defeat, leaving them reeling at the ninth place on the points table now.
For the unversed, Ajinkya Rahane, the captain of KKR won the toss and decided to field first . His decision was well supported at the venue as the KKR bowlers restricted to 103/9 in their stipulated 20 overs. Only four batters could breach the double-digit score with Vijay Shankar top-scoring with his 21-ball 29 for the hosts. Eventually, the side were restricted to their lowest ever score at Chepauk in the cash-rich league.
For the visitors, Sunil Narine starred with the ball, picking three wickets, whereas Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy claimed two each. Vaibhav Arora and Moeen Ali also finished among the wickets, picking one each.
KKR chase 104-run target in 10.1 overs; hand CSK their fifth straight defeat
In pursuit of the 104-run target , Quinton de Kock and Sunil narine kickstarted with a band, scoring 23 and 44 runs respectively. However, Anshul Kamboj broke the crucial partnership, Noor Ahmed cleaned up Narine, who was dominant at Chepauk. Eventually, KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane (20* off 17) and Rinku Singh (15* off 12) guided the side to a comfortable win as they chased the total in 10.1 overs.
With this win, KKR jumped to the third place in the IPL points table, whereas CSK continue to reel at the ninth place having lost five games on the trot. While it was the first such instance for the Yellow Army that they have lost five games in a row in the cash-rich league, it was also the first time that CSK have lost three games in a row at Chepauk in a season.
