Chennai Super Kings
Credits: BCCI

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by five wickets in their last league game to seal their place in the top. On the other hand, the defeat ended Kings XI’s journey while Rajasthan Royals (RR) became the fourth team to make it to the playoffs.

Chasing a modest 154, the Super Kings were off to shaky start, reeling at 27 for three. Their top-scorer Ambati Rayudu departed after scoring just one.

Ankit Rajpoot then dismissed Faf du Plessis and Sam Billings inside an over to put Kings XI on top. Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh then took the score past the 50-run mark.

Ravichandran Ashwin broke the 31-run stand by dismissing Harbhajan for 19. Suresh Raina and Deepak Chahar then took the innings forward but the runs were not coming at the required rate.

At the end of 15 overs, the Super Kings were 102 for four. Chahar, however, soon shifted his gears. But before he could inflict further damage, Ashwin sent him back. He scored 39 off just 20 balls.

The equation was finally down to 23 off 12 balls with Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the middle.  Raina then scored 22 runs in the 19th over before Dhoni sealed the game with a trademark six. The southpaw scored 61 off 47 balls while Dhoni remained unbeaten on 16.

Earlier in the game, fifty from Karun Nair helped Kings XI recover from a disastrous start and post a respectable 153. Asked to bat first in the do-or-die clash, the Kings XI were off to a nightmare start. They lost their top three for just 16 runs.

Chris Gayle was the first to depart, perishing to Lungisani Ngidi for a duck in the second over. Seven runs later, Deepak Chahar accounted for Aaron Finch. Kings XI’s hopes of posting a big total then took a body blow when their in-form batsman KL Rahul departed after scoring just 7.

Manoj Tiwary and David Miller then steadied the ship for a while. The duo added 60 runs for the fourth wicket before Super Kings dismissed them in quick succession to reduce the Kings XI to 80 for five from 76 for three.

From thereon, it was a one-man show as Nair took the onus on himself.

The right-handed batsman Nair remained till the 19th over, to ensure Kings XI cross the 150-run mark. He scored 54 off just 26 balls with the help of three fours and five sixes.

Quick Read: IPL 2018: Twitter Reacts As Chennai Super Kings Thrash Kings XI Punjab

Here is how Twitter reacted to the match following a convincing win by Chennai Super Kings:

https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/998266193310973952

https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/998265555185364992

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