Kolkata rides high in Abu Dhabi

Our Correspondent

Kolkata Knight Riders registered a surprise 10-run victory over Chennai Super Kings at the IPL match in Abu Dhabi on October 7.

Chasing a target of 168, Chennai looked set to taste victory with Shane Watson (50 off 40 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (30 off 27) at the crease. However, Rayudu’s dismissal when the score was 99/1 in 12.1 overs set off a cascade of wickets from the Chennai side. Watson, who gave a sterling performance in the previous match, was the next to go.

Kolkata bowlers especially Sunil Narine put a brake on the Chennai innings. CSK failed to keep up with the required rate and could come up only with 157-5.

Earlier, Chennai bowlers had restricted Kolkata to 167/9. Dwayne Bravo picked up three wickets for CSK while Karn Sharma, Shardul Thakur and Sam Curran took two each.

New opener Rahul Tripathi (81 off 51 balls) earned the Player of the Match award.

KKR’s celebrity focus

Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner and Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has been in attendance at his team’s matches including at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. He watched alongside his son Aryan and daughter Suhana his team put up a commendable performance.

Meanwhile, there has been some speculations about KKR batsman Shubman Gill and Sachin Tendulkar’s daughter Sara, a 21-year-old graduate in medicine, being romantically entangled on account of her instagram posts praising his performance.