Muristek
Mumbai, March 26
Kolkata Knight Riders beat defending champions Chennai Super Kings by six wickets as Mahendra Singh Dhoni's first IPL fifty in three years went in vain in the season opener here today.
Unburdened by captaincy, Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 50 off 38 balls to take CSK to 131/5 after being put in to bat. KKR, who lost to CSK in last season's final, chased down the target with nine balls to spare as opener Ajinkya Rahane top-scored with a 34-ball 44.
Rahane was in good touch as he hit six fours and one six. He shared 43 runs for the opening wicket with Venkatesh Iyer (16). Nitish Rana (21), new captain Shreyas Iyer (20 not out) and Sam Billings (25) made useful contributions to give KKR a winning start. Dwayne Bravo (3/20) was the pick of the bowlers for CSK.
While Iyer started his KKR captaincy with a win, Ravindra Jadeja, who replaced Dhoni as CSK skipper, began his stint with a loss.
Earlier, KKR dished out a clinical bowling show. CSK crossed the 130-run mark thanks to Dhoni's 70-run partnership with skipper Jadeja (26 not out off 28 balls) for the seventh wicket. Dhoni's last IPL fifty had come in April 2019.
Pacer Umesh Yadav (2/20) was the most successful bowler for KKR, while mystery spinners Varun Chakravarthy (1/23) and Sunil Narine (0/15) kept the run-rate in check.
Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings: 131/5 (Dhoni 50*; Yadav 2/20); Kolkata Knight Riders: 133/4 in 18.3 overs (Rahane 44; Bravo 3/20). —