CHENNAI Super Kings 141 for 3 (Gaikwad 67, Arora 2-28) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 137 for 9 (Iyer 34, Jadeja 3-18, Deshpande 3-33, Mustafizur 2-22) by seven wickets
After two back-to-back defeats on the road, Chennai Super Kings returned to the comforts of home and to winning ways, consigning Kolkata Knight Riders to their first loss of IPL 2024.

On a surface that was typical of the one used at Chepauk in seasons past, CSK bowled first and restricted KKR to 137 for 9. This after KKR had raced to 56 for 1 in the powerplay. But as the ball got older, the CSK bowlers, led by Ravindra Jadeja who picked 3 for 18, came into their own.

In the chase, Ruturaj Gaikwad got back into form, shepherding the innings with an unbeaten 58-ball 67 to take CSK over the line with seven wickets and 14 balls to spare. He added 70 off 55 balls with Daryl Mitchell (25 off 19) before Shivam Dube came in and tanked 28 off 18 to take CSK closer.

With three to win, in walked MS Dhoni, causing bedlam in the Chepauk stands. But it was Gaikwad who fittingly finished off the chase by crashing Anukul Roy through covers.

Gaikwad’s welcome return to form
It hasn’t been the strongest of starts for Gaikwad in IPL 2024. Coming into the game, he had only managed 88 runs in four innings, averaging 22 in the tournament. But with a modest target in front of him, he bedded in for the long haul. After a watchful first over, he got going with a ramp off Vaibhav Arora and moved from 4 off 9 to 32 off 23 by the end of the powerplay.