It was perhaps a blessing in disguise that CSK’s struggling captain Ruturaj Gaikwad didn’t hang around for too long, allowing Samson and Mhatre use of the field restrictions. Both of them hit Vaibhav Arora for a hat-trick of fours each to go with Mhatre’s successive sixes off Cameron Green, who opened the bowling, got some shape but couldn’t stick to plans. Arora came back to bounce Mhatre out at the end of the powerplay, but his 16-ball 38 had done the damage already. Both teams practically cancelled each other out on runs outside the powerplay, but CSK’s 72 to KKR’s 36 in the first six overs proved decisive.

Sunil Narine led the middle-overs slowdown as Samson decided to see him out without taking risks. Varun started well with only one boundary in his first two overs, but the surprise package was the high pace of Kartik Tyagi, who not only bowled Samson just short of his fifty but also possibly delayed the arrival of Shivam Dube, who could have likely broken up overs of spin. Narine, Anukul Roy and Varun continued to deny batters freedom as just 70 came in nine overs after the powerplay.

Struggling for fluency, Brevis managed to get the better of Arora in the 16th over, which went for 20 runs, but Narine and Tyagi again denied CSK a finishing kick. Narine conceded one boundary in the 17th, and Tyagi bowled overs 18 and 20 for just 14 runs, giving KKR hope as they went into the chase.

KKR finally opened with the ideal combination, but Khaleel and Kamboj got just enough movement off the pitch to frustrate Allen and Narine. Playing his fifth match, Allen was yet to make it out of the powerplay as he edged Kamboj to cover-point. Narine managed to hit two sixes and two fours, but Khaleel frustrated him with wide lines and the round-the-wicket angle. Khaleel eventually had him caught at short third, moments after he had been dropped off Kamboj.

Raghuvanshi and Rahane are not the most dynamic duo in T20 cricket, and CSK snuck in overs of fingerspin and rookie Gurjapneet Singh while they were in the middle. Two catches went down off Hosein before he finally had Raghuvanshi caught for 27 off 19. Despite hitting two sixes off Gurjapneet, Rahane managed just 28 off 22.

Rahane eventually fell to a wrong’un from Noor Ahmad, who had been held back for the more threatening KKR batters: Rovman Powell, Green and Rinku Singh. He followed it up by bowling Green for a golden duck with his quick stock ball. Noor went on to add Rinku to his haul as the asking rate went beyond reach. He ended up with 3 for 21 in his four to go with Hosein’s 1 for 26 collected in an unbroken spell of four overs. By the time the two were done, the game was all but over with KKR needing 86 off the last five overs.

Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 192 for 5 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 48, Ayush Mhatre 38, Dewald Brevis 41, Sarfaraz Khan 23, Shivam Dube 13*; Vaibhav Arora 1-55, Anukul Roi 1-21, Kartik Tyagi 2-35) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 160 for 7 in 20 overs  (Sunil Narine 24, Ajinkya Rahane 28, Angkrish Raghuvansi 27, Rovman Powell 31*, Ramandeep Singh 35; Khaleel Ahmed 1-24,  Anshul Kamboj 2-32, Akeal Hosein 1-26, Noor Ahmed 3-21) by 32 runs

[Cricinfo]

Long before the wreckage, RR had a first-ball wicket of their own when Abhishek Sharma charged at Archer to get a thick edge to deep third. If Archer’s first over was a ripper, his second brought him back to earth as Kishan nonchalantly picked him for two boundaries: a whip behind square for four, and the subsequent bumper dumped over deep midwicket for six.

Travis Head was streaky, with left-arm seamer Nandre Burger nearly having him twice in the fourth over. First, a nip-backer kissed the inside edge and beat a diving Jurel behind the stumps. Then, Head skewed a skier over mid-on to evade a retreating Archer. But his luck didn’t last as Head was beaten in flight to hole out to long-on off Parag in the seventh over. By then, he had put on 55 with Kishan to set a platform.

Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 216 for 6 in 20 overs  (Travis Head 18, Ishan Kishan 91, Heinrich Klaasen 40, Nitish Kumar Reddy 28, Salil Arora 24*; Jofra Archer 2-37, Sandeep Sharma 1-52, Tushar Deshpande 1-55, Riyan Parag 1-05) beat Rajasthan Royals 159 in 19 overs  (Donovan Ferreira 69, Ravindra Jadeja 45, Tushar Deshpande 25; Sakib Hussain 4-24, Praful Hinge 4-34, Eshan Malinga 2-31)  by 57 runs

Off the field during the second half of the match, Kohli didn’t need to fret much from the sidelines as the spinners Suyash Sharma and KrunalPandya expertly shut the chase down. Suyash did so with the wickets of the rampaging Ryan Rickelton and Tilak Varma in his first over while Krunal bowled four overs for just 26 runs, signing off with just reward in form of Suryakumar Yadav’s scalp. The RCB spinners bowled eight overs for 73 runs and three big wickets as against MI’s two spinners conceding 83 in six overs.

Kohli registered the first boundary of the innings with a six in the first over, but it was Salt who kept on the assault, scoring 47 off 22 in the powerplay. This involved welcoming Mitchell Santner, a reluctant powerplay bowler, with three sixes and a four. MI were forced to bowl Jasprit Bumrah for two overs inside the powerplay; still RCB got to 71.

The next key moment for RCB was the introduction of legspin with a right-hand heavy batting line-up, but that didn’t matter at all with Mayank Markande extracting little turn in either direction. Salt stayed back to hit three consecutive fours off his flatter lengths, and was waiting to hit a six the moment he gave it a hint of air.

When all else failed for MI, Shardul Thakur, bowling for the first time as late as the 11th over, executed wide yorkers to tie Kohli down and take the wicket of Salt caught at extra cover.

With 25 and a wicket off the last 17 balls, MI were hoping for a way back into the contest when RCB captain Patidar walked out. For some reason, Thakur gave up his death bowling and went searching, letting Patidar get off with a chipped four over mid-off first ball.

The return of Markande proved disastrous for MI as Patidar toyed around with him, hitting three back-to-back sixes, including one reverse-sweep. From 22 off 4, the likely direction Patidar’s strike rate could travel was down, but he made sure it wasn’t a long way down.

In his second over, Thakur completely went to pieces with his wide yorkers not landing and slower short balls travelling over the head on a red-soil bouncy surface. The 10-ball over went for 23 as RCB moved to 167 for 1 in 13 overs.

RCB had a big opportunity to put matters past any plausible chase, but Kohli couldn’t get the boundaries despite trying to hit hard. Missing the reverse-sweep in his arsenal, he couldn’t take the clever Santner down, who eventually ended up with the wicket of Patidar.

Even though Bumrah’s two overs at the death were excellent, keeping him at just 35 in four overs, he has now gone five straight IPL matches without a wicket if you count the Qualifier that MI lost last year. With his 34 off 16, Tim David did enough to keep them at an even two a ball.

Rickelton got the chase off to a flying start, MI racing away to 39 for 0 in three overs and 48 for 0 in four, which promised a close match. However, Krunal’s introduction began to raise the asking rate. Only eight came off his first over with Impact Player Rasikh Dar conceding just 15 in his two overs inside the powerplay.

Rohit Sharma went off with what seemed like a hamstring injury, and at 72 for 0 in seven overs, MI were already looking at 13 an over to win. Rickelton had no time to get a sighter at Suyash, who started off with a wide wrong’un and a top edge on the slog sweep. Later in the over, he went outside leg with a wrong’un to Tilak, getting him caught at short fine leg.

Hardik walked in and hit a six first ball, but the asking rate went higher than it was at the start of the over.

MI needed 120 off 46 balls when Suryakumar got out. The asking rate soon went past three a ball, and Sherfane Rutherford’s  71 off 31 only serving to control the net-run-rate damage to MI.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 240 for 4 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 78, Patidar 53, Virat Kohli 50, Rajat Patidar 53, Tim David 34*, Jitesh Shqrma 10; Trent Boult 1-50,  Hardik Pandya  1-39, Mitchell Santner 1-43, Shardul Thakur 1-32) beat Mumbai Indians 222 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 37, Rohit Sharma 19, Suryakumar Yadav 33, Sherfane Rutherford 71*, Hardik Pandya 40; Jacob Duffy 1-38, Krunal Pandya 1-26, Rasikh Salam 1-23,  Suyash Sharma 2-47)  by 18 runs

[Cricinfo]