SUNIL NARINE starred with both the bat and the ball as Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets to regain their winning momentum in the Indian Premier League on Friday (11).
Narine picked up three wickets with his off-spin before hitting 44 off 18 balls with the help of five sixes and two fours to help Kolkata overhaul a below-par Chennai 103-9 with as many as 59 balls to spare.
Five-time champions Chennai crashed to their fifth defeat in a row, leaving their fans mighty disappointed. The total was Chennai's lowest at their home ground Chepauk and the third-lowest ever in the IPL.
Kolkata are now third in the points table with Chennai languishing in ninth position in the 10-team competition.
"We had our plans and that worked well for us tonight," said Kolkata skipper Ajinkya Rahane. "We still have a long way to go in the tournament... Last game we lost by four wickets, it was about starting from scratch."
Openers Quinton de Kock and Narine gave Kolkata a flying start before Chennai got a breakthrough in the fifth over.
Medium pacer Anshul Kamboj sent de Kock back for a 16-ball 23 but Narine carried on with aplomb.
Narine hit Ravichandran Ashwin for two sixes on the trot and by the time he was bowled by Noor Ahmad, victory was well within the sight of Kolkata.
"We need to look deep down inside. Challenge was there, but we needed to tackle," said Chennai skipper M S Dhoni. "We didn't have enough runs on the board today."
Put in to bat, Chennai lost their openers Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra early, with just 16 runs on the board.
Chennai could have been in deeper trouble but Narine dropped a sitter at mid-off, offering a reprieve to Vijay Shankar.
Shankar, who was dropped again on 20 by Venkatesh Iyer at midwicket, went on to make 29 off 21 balls with two fours and a six.
Rahul Tripathi, coming into the squad in place of the injured Ruturaj Gaikwad, was bowled by Narine for 16 to leave Chennai tottering at 65-4.
The rest of the Chennai order buckled under the pressure, making their way back to the pavilion without making any impact.
Dhoni, named skipper on Thursday (10) after Gaikwad was ruled out of the rest of the season, also failed to weave his magic, trapped leg before for one off Narine (3-13).
Shivam Dube, hit an unbeaten 31 off 29 balls, to take the side past the 100-run mark.
(AFP)
England's Jamie Overton celebrates after taking the wicket of West Indies' Gudakesh Motie. Reuters/Andrew Boyers