IPL 2023: Ajinkya Rahane, Devon Conway's first innings heroics seal 49-run victory for CSK against KKR

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 24 : Ajinkya Rahane and Devon Conway's scintillating knocks in the first innings and Maheesh Theekshana's allowed Chennai Super Kings to register a dominant victory against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Sunday.
Chasing 236, Kolkata Knight Riders were rocked early as opener Sunil Narine was cleaned up by CSK's Impact Player Akash Singh without opening his account, off the fourth ball of the innings. N Jagadeesan departed in the second over.
Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana then got together and steadied the sinking ship. The duo hit two fours and a six each as KKR reached 38/2 at the end of the Powerplay.
Akash Singh bowled four overs straight up and finished with impressive figures of 4-0-29-1. Dhoni then introduced Moeen Ali into the attack and he struck off his first ball, trapping Venkatesh Iyer LBW as he missed his slog sweep. Iyer reviewed it but the ball tracking system showed all three reds.
Jason Roy, who had injured himself while fielding, then came out all guns blazing hitting three consecutive sixes off Moeen Ali.
But Ravindra Jadeja brought CSK back into the game as he picked KKR skipper Nitish Rana's wicket after being hit for a four off the previous ball. KKR hobbled to 76/4 at the halfway mark.
Roy and Rinku Singh then pressed the accelerator button, hammering a couple of sixes and a four off Jadeja. Roy took on Theekshana in the next over hitting a six and a four to make it 33 from two overs.
Roy brought up his fifty, off just 19 balls. Roy cracked a couple of fours off Theekshana but the Sri Lankan spinner bounced back hard to clean him up with a yorker on 61(26).
With the required run rate touching almost 20 (99 required from 30) Rinku and Andre Russell went after Tushar Deshpande and took 19 off the over including two fours and a six.
Pathirana then got rid of Russell (9 off 6) as he ended up mistiming his shot. The Sri Lankan pacer bowled a brilliant over and gave away just eight including the wicket of Russell.
Rinku Singh tried to put up a fight, bringing up his fifty with a six, off Pathirana but the equation was out of his reach as well, as KKR fell short by 49 runs. Rinku Singh remained unbeaten on 53 off 33 balls with four sixes and three fours.
Put to bat first, CSK got off to a fine start as their openers Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad kept KKR bowlers on their toes from the very first over of the innings. The hard-hitting duo took their team's total beyond the 50-run mark in under 6 overs.
However, Suyash Sharma provided his team with a crucial breakthrough as he sent Gaikward packing back to the pavilion for a score of 35(20) in the 8th over of the game.
The right-handed batter Ajinkya Rahane then came out to bat. Conway continued his blistering form in the match against KKR too as he slammed a 34-ball half-century in the 10th over of the game.
Varun Chakaravarthy then provided his team with a significant breakthrough as he dismissed Conway for 56 in the 13th over of the innings. The left-handed batter Shivam Dube then came out to bat and the latter slammed two back-to-back sixes in Chakaravarthy's over.
Rahane and Dube hammered Umesh Yadav for 22 runs with the help of two fours and two maximums in the 14th over.
The hard-hitting duo in their red-hot form brought up their 50-run partnership in 16 balls. Rahane continued his blistering form and brought up his half-century off just 24 deliveries. At this Rahane and Dube's partnership added 85 runs in just 32 balls.
Dube also brought up his fiery half-century in 20 balls, however, his stay at the crease was cut short as Kulwant Khejroliya dismissed the batter for 50 runs.
CSK all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja then came out to bat. Rahane then in the penultimate over slammed Chakaravarthy for 19 runs with the help of two sixes and one four. After scoring
In the last over the duo of Jadeja slammed two sixes before losing his wicket to Khejroliya after scoring 18 runs. CSK captain MS Dhoni then came out to bat with two balls remaining. On the last ball of the innings, Dhoni took 2 runs to help CSK finish on a mammoth total of 235/4.