Chennai: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 6 wickets in match 61 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the  MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday (May 14). While CSK won the toss and elected to bat first, they only managed to post 144/6 in their 20 overs in what was a tricky surface. In response, even though Deepak Chahar scalped three early wickets, half-centuries from Nitish Rana (57* off 44) and Rinku Singh (54* off 43) ensured KKR remain in control of the chase and even though Rinku departed before the finish line, the Kolkata captain came back only after finishing the match.

In the first innings, batters seemed to struggle to time the ball and play the big shots. However, one batter did manage to play some big hits and give Chennai bowlers something to bowl at and it was Shivam Dube. The southpaw scored 48 off 34 which was studded with 3 sixes and a boundary and remained unbeaten till the end. For KKR, Sunil Narine was back amongst the wickets and returned with figures of 2 for 15. Varun Chakravarthy was also impressive finishing with 2 wickets for 36.

In the run chase after the early wickets, Rinku and Rana added 99 runs off 76 balls the highest fourth-wicket stand ever against CSK in IPL history which was broken courtesy of a run out by Moeen Ali but a bit too late for Chennai's liking as by that time KKR were already on the verge of a win.

The result means CSK remain on 15 points from 13 matches but KKR have moved to 12 points from 13 matches and can reach a maximum of 14 points if they win their last match. They will also have to hope that their Net Run Rate (NRR) gets a boost and other results go in their favour for them to reach the Playoffs.

A win, meanwhile, should be more than enough for Chennai to reach the final four something which they couldn't clinch here in what was their final league game of the season at their home ground.