IPL 2021: Watch - Sunil Narine Hits The Off-Stump To Clean Up Ambati Rayudu

Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Sunil Narine castled Chennai Super Kings middle-order batter Ambati Rayudu, hitting his off-stump to dismiss the right-hander in their encounter on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.

On the first ball of the 15th over of CSK’s chase, Rayudu shimmied down the track and lofted Sunil Narine for a boundary over extra cover. On the second ball, the batsman once again gave charge down the wicket.

However, Sunil Narine, here, proved much smarter to be taken away again in the similar fashion. He dragged the length back of his off-break. Rayudu swung for the fences but missed the ball this time, only to see it hit the top of his off-stump, and departed after scoring 10 runs off 9 balls.

The game hangs in balance in CSK’s chase

At the end of the 16th over CSK are at 132/3, requiring 40 runs off the last four overs. Chasing 172, they needed a solid start from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis, and they got it from the in-form pair. Du Plessis stroked 6 boundaries, Gaikwad hit a couple of fours and a maximum to end a dominating powerplay at 52/0.

Gaikwad (40 off 28) harrumphed a couple of more sixes after the powerplay before Andre Russell broke the 74-run opening stand. Moeen Ali started off in a brisk fashion but lost the support at the other end: du Plessis (43 off 30) fell to Prasidh Krishna and Ambati Rayudu (10 off 9) was bowled by Sunil Narine.

Earlier, Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to bat first on the tacky surface in Abu Dhabi. Shubman Gill started off with a couple of boundaries against Deepak Chahar before getting involved in a mixup with Venkatesh Iyer and getting run out on the last ball of the first over.

Iyer (18 off 15) struck three boundaries of his own before Shardul Thakur removed him in a wicket-maiden to end KKR’s powerplay at 50/2.

While the KKR skipper struggled at one end, Rahul Tripathi continued in his attacking form from the previous match against Mumbai Indians. Both then got out in quick spaces – Morgan (8 off 14) to a blinder by Faf du Plessis at long-on boundary and Tripathi (45 off 33) was bowled after failing to connect his reverse sweep against Jadeja.

Andre Russell (20 off 15) was looking ominous after hitting a couple of fours and a maximum. But Thakur returned to account for the big wicket, eliciting an inside edge onto the sticks.

As Nitish Rana (37* off 27) held one end, on the other, Dinesh Karthik (26 off 11) clobbered crucial runs in the death over to help KKR over 170. Thakur was the pick of the CSK bowlers for returning with 2/20 while Sam Curran with 0/56 had a forgettable outing.

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Watch – Sunil Narine Hits The Off-Stump To Clean Up Ambati Rayudu