KKR start IPL campaign by beating CSK

After restricting Chennai at 131 runs for the loss of five wickets, KKR reached the target of 133 runs by losing only four wickets,.

Ajinkya Rahane (44), skipper Shyeyas Iyer (21) Nitish Rana (21) and Sam Billings  (25) helped KKR in reachng the winning score.

Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 38-ball fifty provided Chennai Super Kings (CSK) late surge that helped the side to post a respectable 132 runs target for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 Opener at Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.

Captain Ravindra Jadeja and Dhoni rescued CSK by scripting an unbeaten 70-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Batting together, they ensured of not losing further wickets and towards the end smacked 47 runs off the last three overs.

Shreyas and Co. were too good for the first 17 overs of the match.

He won the toss and immediately got the ball to talk by removing both the openers - Rituraj Gaikwad (0) and Devon Conway (3).

Sheldon Jackson stumped Robin Uthappa (28) and then a mix-up in the middle saw Ambati Rayudu (15) lose his wicket before Shivam Dube (3) gifted his wicket away. At 61 for 5, it looked bad, but at 84 for 5 in 17 overs it looked worse as Dhoni struggled against Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine's tricks.

Jadeja (26*) surprisingly was not getting the timing right as he had exhibited his batsmanship in his an unbeaten 175 runs knock against Sri Lanka in Mohali Test.

It all changed when the former captain took the responsibility on his shoulders and immediately picked Russel for three boundaries.

Shivam Mavi bowled an outstanding first half of the 19th over, but CSK roared back to gain the upper hand and get 131.

Surely the target is under par as KKR will have the advantage of dew factor that will make the batting easy. If they lose, then they would have surely played really poor cricket, failing to race past the meagre target.

Earlier, Umesh removed Gaikwad for a duck, but Uthappa got CSK going with a fine boundary to the leg side off Mavi.

He then smacked the first six, lifting the ball over mid-wicket off Umesh in the third over.

Conway, who was struggling to get going, departed cheaply after Umesh bagged his second wicket as he holed out to Shreyas.

In a big blow to CSK, Varun struck in his second over by picking up Uthappa just when the stand between him and Rayudu was building. It was the last thing CSK wanted.

A silly run-out cost them the wicket of Rayudu who set off for a single. Iyer was composed as he chucked the ball to the bowler who did the rest. CSK then were in deep straits at 52 for 4.

Another batsman feel cheaply and CSK lost half their side. Dube found the man at midwicket and CSK were 61 for 5.