3 Epic Clashes between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings at Eden Gardens

Kolkata Knight Riders will clash against Chennai Super Kings at the iconic Eden Gardens tonight. This is going to be an exciting game as both the teams were involved in a nail-biting encounter earlier this season in which Chennai Super Kings triumphed in the last over thanks to the last over blitz by Ravindra Jadeja. This would be a perfect opportunity for KKR to make amends at their home ground.

As far as the points table is concerned, Chennai Super Kings are sitting pretty on number 1 position with 12 points from 8 games, where as Kolkata Knight Riders are on 4th position with 8 points from 4 games.

Let us look at some of the epic encounters between both the teams at the Eden Gardens.

The two teams have faced each other 18 times in the IPL, with CSK winning 11 of those encounters and KKR winning 6. One match was washed out.

#3 Robin Uthappa’s 67 of 39 takes KKR home – 2014

This was during the 7th season of the Indian Premier League and the venue was Eden Gardens. Put into bat first, Chennai Super Kings got off to a dreadful start, losing their opener Dwayne Smith (5) in the second over, bowled off the bowling of Pat Cummins. However, Suresh Raina and Brendon McCullum resurrected the innings as both the batsman put up a partnership of 55 runs for the second wicket before McCullum skied one to long-on of the bowling of Sunil Narine to be dismissed for 28.

Faf du Plessis and Raina stitched together a 62 run partnership for the third wicket before the South African was run out for 23. However, Raina continued his good form as he notched up another IPL fifty. Some late strikes from MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja took the score past 150 and CSK ended up with 154/4 in the allotted 20 overs.

Chasing 155 to win under lights, Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa got the team off to a great start. Both the openers scored more than 9 runs per over and took the wind out of the CSK bowlers. The pair added 64 runs for the first wicket before Gambhir was bowled off the bowling of Ishwar Pandey for 21.

Robin Uthappa continued his attacking instincts as he raced away to a 50 off just 29 deliveries. He was dismissed for a well made 67 after holing out at long-off, trying to chip one for a six off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja.

His knock of 67 comprised of 10 boundaries and 1 hit over the fence. This knock set up the chase for KKR and what followed next was a mere formality. With 56 to win off 48 balls, KKR chased the target in 18 overs thanks to quick fire 46* by Shakib Al Hasan, who was ably supported by Manish Pandey (18*).

Kolkata registered a comprehensive win by 8 wickets. For his match-winning knock of 67, Uthappa was awarded the Man of the Match.

#2 Jadeja’s all-round performance help CSK win in a low scoring thriller – 2013

Electing to bat first on a slow pitch at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata’s openers Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan got the team off to a good start. The pair added 46 runs for the 1st wicket before Gambhir was caught by Michael Hussey at the third man region. KKR kept lost their wickets at regular intervals and soon they were reduced to 55-4 by the end of 8 overs.

Debabrata Das and Manoj Tiwary added 27 runs for the 5th wicket but it was too little too less as both the batsman were dismissed in quick session and soon KKR were in serious trouble at 6-89 in 14.1 overs.

Ravi Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja made full use of the slow pitch at the Eden Gardens and both the spinners shared 5 wickets among them. In the end, KKR reached a modest total of 119/9 in their allocated 20 overs.

Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers with 3-20 in his 4 overs, followed by Ashwin with 2-21 in 4 overs.

Chasing 120 to win, Ashwin was promoted as an opening batsman to partner Michael Hussey. In his brief stay at the crease, Ashwin scored 2 boundaries before handing over a catch to mid-wicket off the bowling of Sachitra Senanayake. This wicket triggered a mini collapse as Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina were dismissed in quick succession by the KKR spinners.

At 54-3 MS Dhoni was run out after a direct hit from Eoin Morgan, who charged in from the extra cover region to hit at the stumps.

Hussey kept CSK in the hunt by rotating the strike and not taking any chances against the KKR spinners. However, his vigil ended after he handed over a catch to square-leg off the bowling of Lakshmipathy Balaji for a gritty 40 of 51 balls.

With 31 to win off 3 overs and the game in the balance, Jadeja showed his prowess with the bat as he started smashing the spinners by hitting them straight down the ground. His quick fire 36 off 14 balls took CSK home with 5 balls to spare.

CSK won the game by 4 wickets and for his all-round effort with both bat and ball, Ravindra Jadeja was awarded the Man of the Match.

#1 Bravo’s last ball Six wins the game for CSK – 2012

This has to be the best and the most memorable encounter between the two great sides. Put into bat first, skipper Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum got the team to a blazing start. The pair put on a 99 run partnership for the first wicket before McCullum was run-out for 37.

Gautam Gambhir kept hitting the bowlers as he raced away to another IPL fifty. His knock of 62 off 43 balls comprised of 6 boundaries and 3 maximums. He was bowled off the bowling of Shadab Jakati in the 13th over. At this juncture, KKR were 100-2 and looked well on their way to a score of above 180.

However, some tight bowling by CSK’s spinners pegged the scoring run-rate and brought them back into the game. Jakati picked up 2 wickets in his 4 overs while Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared one wicket apiece.

KKR ended up with 158/6 in their allocated 20 overs, with Gautam Gambhir being the top scorer with 62.

In reply, Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay attacked the KKR bowlers right from the word go. The left and right-handed combination was an added advantage as both the openers smashed the KKR bowlers all over the park. At the halfway mark, CSK were 96/0 with a mere 63 to win off 60 balls.

However, the introduction of Sunil Narine bought Kolkata Knight Riders back into the game. Narine first dismissed Michael Hussey (56), who was caught at short third-man trying to sweep a full-length delivery. He then followed it up by removing Vijay for 36 as the batsman tried to cut one that spun sharply into the stumps.

KKR further clawed back into the game by removing Suresh Raina and Faf du Plessis and soon, CSK were reduced to 127-4 with 32 required off 17 balls. M.S Dhoni struck few lusty blows to bring the target to 9 runs off the last over.

The last over was handed over to Rajat Bhatia and what followed was an absolute dramatic finish.

A single was scored off the first ball of the over by Bravo. M.S Dhoni was dismissed on the second ball of the over trying to heave one over the midwicket region.

The new batsman Jadeja picked up a couple of runs of the next two deliveries and the strike was back with Bravo.

5 runs were required of the last 2 balls.

Bravo couldn’t score a run of the fifth ball trying to slog a slower delivery as he missed it altogether.

With 5 runs required off the last ball, KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir spread out the field. Rajat Bhatia ran into bowl and bowled a knee-high full toss to which Bravo, who swung hard and cleared the long-on boundary to register a famous victory for CSK at the iconic Eden Gardens.

Gautam Gambhir was in disbelief and so was the crowd as Bravo showed his magic off the last ball of the match. The entire CSK brigade ran on to the field to congratulate the West Indian for his heroics. The win meant that CSK were well in contention for a play-off spot in the fifth edition of Indian Premier League.

CSK won the game by five wickets and for his effort with the bat that set up the chase, Hussey was awarded the Man of the Match.