KKR vs CSK IPL 2023: Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube lead the way as Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders to go top | Cricket News – Times of India

KOLKATA: It was Chennai Super Kings all the way here on Sunday. With the Eden Gardens wearing the colour yellow, it was a ‘home away from home’ for the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side which thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders by 49 runs.
The visitors more or less sealed the tie in the first innings itself by setting up 235 for four, the highest score in this IPL, after being asked to bat first. While KKR suffered their fourth straight defeat this season, the win took CSK to the top of the table with 10 points at the midway stage of the league.
It was the usual picture for KKR this season. Their bowlers once again went for runs in the Powerplay and they lost both their openers — their fifth pair this season — inside the first six overs. In contrast, openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway once again built a solid foundation for Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube to launch an onslaught for CSK later in the innings.

KKR missed the chance to seize the initiative early when David Wiese, making his IPL debut coming in place of Litton Das, dropped Conway off his own bowling in his first over. Conway replied right back by lifting him off his pads for the first six of the match that set the tone for the innings.
For a change, even the KKR spinners went for runs with the famed trio going for 101 runs. Varun Chakravarthy, who came in the fourth over, was greeted by Conway with a straight six. Sunil Narine, introduced in the seventh over, was hit for a four and six by Gaikwad.
Once a key player for KKR, Narine seems to be losing his shine as was not given his quota of four overs. With the bat, he perished for zero while opening the batting.

CSK lost their openers in quick succession with youngster Suyash Sharma providing the breakthrough by having Gaikwad clean bowled off his third delivery. Left-hander Conway fell playing too far away from his body to be caught at long-off by Weise off Chakravarthy after getting his fourth fifty in a row.
But there was no respite for KKR as Dube opened with consecutive sixes off Chakravarthy.
Coming in at one down, Rahane picked up his old franchise for some rough treatment by playing shots all around the park.

(AI image)
Watch IPL 2023: CSK jump to top spot with dominant win over KKR