The experiment to send Rahul Tripathi as opener worked for KKR as he scored a hard-fought 81-run knock of 51 deliveries to propel his team to 167/10 against Chennai Super Kings at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. CSK's Karn Sharma was the pick of the bowlers who ended with figures of 2 wickets for 24 runs in his first game of IPL 2020.
Rahul Tripathi and Shubman Gill came out in the middle at the crease to start the proceedings for their team. For CSK, Chahar opened the attack. Kolkata Knight Riders finally changed their opening combo by replacing Sunil Narine with Tripathi whose finishing skills in the last game earned him his opening slot back.
Both KKR openers gave their squad a great start as they continued to play a mix of aggressive and soft shots in the first few overs. Rahul Tripathi was bit on a roll tonight as he raced to 23 runs off just 14 balls with the help of some back-to-back boundaries.
Gill, on the other end was also looking good but he was departed for just 11 by Shardul Thakur in his opening over as the CSK star bowler drew the edge from Shubman Gill, who was looking to pull short delivery away for big runs.
In-form Nitish Rana was the next man in at number three and got off the mark with a blistering four. At the end of the powerplay (first six overs), Kolkata Knight Riders were 52/1 and a huge wide by Chahar brought up KKR's fifty in 5.4 overs.
CSK very much needed to take another wicket to put some pressure on KKR and it was Karn Sharma who got the major breakthrough after conceding 12 runs from his first over of the match. Nitish Rana, trying to up the ante, holed out to Ravindra Jadeja at long-on for 9.
Rahul Tripathi, who finally got back his opening slot, looked in great form and also notched up fifty off 31 balls -- his 5th in IPL-- to lead Kolkata's run charge. KKR aimed for some hard-hitting to up the run-rate with Narine and Tripathi on the field but their plan was put to halt by CSK.
Karn Sharma got his second wicket by departing Narine after a quick 17 runs off 9 balls in the 11th over. Narine thought he found the gap but a brilliant tag-team catch from Jadeja and Faf ended his short stay at the crease.
Sam Curran gave Kolkata a massive blow by removing Eoin Morgan for just 7. Morgan was deceived by a surprise short ball as a faint edge off his bat to wicket-keeper Dhoni ended his stay at the crease.
KKR lost their way at the death overs with Shardul Thakur getting the big fish. The CSK star bowler got Andre Russell edge one to Dhoni for just 2 runs off 4 balls. Tripathi's fine knock (81) was put to end by birthday boy Dwayne Bravo as he tried to guide a wide delivery but ended up sending it to the slip fielder.
In the last two overs, skipper Dinesh Karthik (12 off 10 balls) and Pat Cummins played aggressive strokes to help KKR reach 167/10.
