Hogg stars but Chennai grab tight win

Dwayne Bravo and Chennai's spinners tied the Kolkata Knight Riders batsmen in knots, leading the Super Kings to a low-scoring win on a typically turning pitch at the M Chidambaram Stadium.

The Knight Riders failed to capitalise on the start that Robin Uthappa provided them and fell to a two-run defeat. This was despite a late-order assault from Dutch all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate and a bowling effort that restricted the Super Kings to 132, with Brad Hogg and Pat Cummins doing well with the ball in their first IPL games of the season.

Chennai's opening duo of Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith got the Super Kings off to a flying start, smashing 42 runs in 4.4 overs with six fours and two sixers.

Cummins and Umesh Yadav copped the brunt of the punishment, and the breakthrough came when Piyush Chawla was brought on in the fifth over - earlier than normal - and trapped McCullum in front with a googly.

Image Id: ~/media/593783FA0A634D0C9D79B83E66F18086

Chawla celebrates the wicket of McCullum // BCCI

The run rate dropped even further when Smith was run out and then Andre Russell took two wickets in as many overs, sending back Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. And when Dwayne Bravo lofted Chawla straight to the long-off fielder, the Super Kings had lost their fifth wicket with just 88 on the board. This after they had been 0-42 at one stage.

By this time the pitch had begun to slow down, enough to discolour the ball, and make shot-making difficult. 

As a result, despite the presence of Faf du Plessis and Ravindra Jadeja until the 19th over, and a couple of boundaries in the final over from R Ashwin, Chennai managed just 6-134 from their 20 overs.

The 36-run stand between du Plessis and Jadeja would prove the difference between the two teams. 

Hogg, who at 44 became the oldest ever player to play in an IPL game, made an impressive return. Coming on as soon as the Powerplay overs were done, he bamboozled batsmen with his turn and extra bounce to finish with figures of 1-18 from his four overs, including the wicket of Jadeja.

Image Id: ~/media/DC4968712FD94866A65F4AFA10C39C9E

Brad Hogg starred with the ball for the Knight Riders // BCCI

Having had Smith dropped in his first over, Cummins copped the brunt of McCullum's early assault before keeping runs in check late in the innings to finish with impressive figures of 0-25 from four overs. 

When Kolkata batted, Gambhir notched up his 11th IPL duck but his opening partner Uthappa showed signs of what made him the top-scorer last season. He blazed a 17-ball 39 and in partnership with a much steadier Manish Pandey, took the Knight Riders to the 50-run mark in the fifth over. 

Despite the obviously slow nature of the pitch, Uthappa took advantage of the fielding restrictions and the ball coming onto the bat off the quicker bowlers. Some of the shots he played gave no sign of the difficult nature of the surface and the carnage that was to follow.

Uthappa fell to the first ball of spin in the Kolkata innings, pulling a short one from Ashwin straight to short mid-wicket. And then much like what had happened when the Super Kings had batted, the run-rate dropped as the wickets fell and the Knight Riders found themselves with a lot to do in very little time.

Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav and Yusuf Pathan got starts but took too much time and with strike rates below 100, each got out trying to force the issue.

Image Id: ~/media/79A15D4682BF4099A0141872BAFE4A22

Kolkata wickets tumbled late in the match // BCCI

Bravo made his mark on the game with a great catch to remove Yadav off the bowling of Mohit Sharma, after at one stage he looked to be in danger of colliding with du Plessis. But the West Indian kept running in full pace from long-on and held on to a diving catch. 

Russell then ran himself out after a misunderstanding with ten Doeschate, and with Cummins, Chawla and Umesh Yadav failing to get off the mark, Kolkata were left to score 17 from the final over.

Ten Doeschate hit a six and a four but needing six to tie the game, he managed to only get himself a four off the last ball to fall just short. 

Following that excellent catch, Bravo came on to send back Pathan, bowled off a slower ball, and then used the same delivery to get the better of both Cummins and Chawla, caught off mistimed strokes. And despite conceding 14 in his final over, he ended with figures of 3-22 from three and pouched the man-of-the-match award.