Knight Riders beat CSK by six wickets in 2022 IPL opener

An all-round Kolkata Knight Riders beat reigning champs Chennai Super Kings by six wickets as Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s first fifty in quite a while went in vain in the IPL opener on Saturday.

Dhoni, who handed over captaincy two days back, crushed an unbeaten 50 off 38 balls to take CSK to 131 for 5.

However, KKR, who lost to CSK in the last season’s final, pursued down the target with nine balls to spare, with Ajinkya Rahane top-scoring with a 34-ball 44.

Rahane, who was recruited for Rs 1 crore by KKR was in great touch as he hit six fours and one six during his knock. He shared 43 runs for the initial wicket with Venkatesh Iyer (16) and that was the highest partnership for KKR eventually.Nitish Rana (21), new skipper Shreyas Iyer (20 not out) and Sam Billings (25) made helpful commitments to give KKR a winning beginning to the tournament.

Iyer hence began his KKR captaincy with a success while his partner Ravindra Jadeja, who replaced Dhoni as CSK captain, started his stretch with a loss.

Dwayne Bravo (3/20) picked three wickets to rise to Mumbai Indians’ Lasith Malinga in the highest wicket taker list in IPL history.Prior, KKR doled out a clinical bowling show to limit CSK to 131/5.

CSK crossed the 130-run mark because of Dhoni’s unbeaten 50 off 38 balls (7×4; 1×6) and captain Jadeja’s 26 not out off 28 balls (1×6).

With a classic Dhoni in stream, CSK amassed 47 runs off the last three overs.