Andre Russell smashed a breathtaking half-century while Ryan ten Doeschate struck a fine unbeaten 51 to guide Indian Premier League champions Kolkata Knight Riders to a stunning seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in a Group A match of the Oppo Champions League Twenty20, in Hyderabad, on Wednesday.
- Scorecard
Chasing 158 for victory, KKR lost a few early wickets and were reduced to 51 for five inside 10 overs.
Russell (58 off 25) and Ten Doeschate rallied KKR with a superb partnership of 80 runs for the sixth wicket off just 42 balls to leave Chennai's bowlers in a shock.
After Russell's dismissal, Ten Doeshchate took the onus on himself to guide KKR home and managed to achieve that with six balls to spare.
KKR's chase, however, started on a horrendous note as they lost their four wickets for 21 wickets in the fifth over.
Veteran Ashish Nehra (4/21) was the wrecker in chief with the ball as he accounted for the wickets of KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir, Manish Pandey and Manvinder Bisla in quick succession to leave CSK in tatters.
In fact, Nehra was on the verge of a hat-trick as he dismissed Gambhir and Pandey in consecutive balls in the third over.
Yusuf Pathan too failed to sparkle as he edged a Mohit Sharma delivery to Faf du Plessiss in the first slip in the fourth over.
Young Suryakumar Yadav started brightly with a 17-ball 19 before he was caught by Ravichandran Ashwin off Ravindra Jadeja in the ninth over as Chennai looked in complete control at that stage.
However, Ten Doeshchate and Russell changed the course of the match with some sizzling strokeplay.
Russell was the aggressive among the duo as he laced his knock with four boundaries and five huge sixes. Ten Doeschate, on the other hand, played the second fiddle and struck three fours and two hits over the fence during his unbeaten knock.
Russell was at his attacking best as he struck two massive sixes of Mohit Sharma in the 16th over to not only bring KKR closer but also raise his fifty in style, from just 22 balls.
Nehra gave Chennai some late hopes as he bowled bowled Russell for a magnificent 58 from 25 balls but there was no stopping the IPL champions as Piyush Chawla hit the winning boundary to help KKR start the tournament with a victory.
Nehra was the best bowler for Chennai as he claimed four for 21 in four overs but the other bowlers went for plenty of runs, including the two spinners -- Jadeja and Ashwin, who went for a combined 54 runs in five overs for just one wicket.
Earlier, Chennai Super Kings rode on late bursts from skipper Mahendra Singh Dhnoni and Dwayne Bravo to post a fighting 157 for four in their 20 overs.
CSK found themselves in a spot of bother at 86 for four in 12.3 overs before Dhoni and Bravo revived the innings as they put on a smashing stand of 71 runs off just 45 balls for the fifth wicket.
Dhoni slammed a quickfire 35 off 20 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes, while Bravo hit a run-a-ball 28-run with two boundaries and as many hits over the fence.
After being put into bat, Chennai were off to a quick start with the opening pair of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum putting on 37 runs from 24 balls.
Smith's 20-run knock off 13 balls was laced with four boundaries before he was caught behind off leg-spinner Piyush Chawla's (2/26).
McCullum (22 off 19) followed suit as he was struck plumb in front of the wicket by part-time spinner Yusuf Pathan (1/16) while attempting a reverse sweep.
Suresh Raina took the onus on himself to ressurect his side's innings in the company of Faf du Plesis. The duo added 35 runs for the third wicket before Raina was adjudged leg before wicket off Sunil Narine (1/9) in the 12th over with CSK's score reading 84 for three.
With KKR producing a disciplined bowling effort in the middle overs, the CSK batsmen found it difficult to score runs easily with Narine registering splendid figures of one for nine in four overs.
CSK's problems compounded further when du Plessis departed in the 13th over to give Chawla his second wicket of the innings.
Bravo broke the shackles against Umesh Yadav as he punished the pacer for two boundaries in the 14th over.
Captain Dhoni also cut loose as he hit medium pacer Andre Russell for two boundaries to pick up 12 runs from the 15th over.
Australian pacer Pat Cummins also suffered at the hands of Bravo, who clobbered him for two sixes in the 17th over that yielded 21 runs.
Cummins was once again at the firing line as Dhoni whacked the bowler over deep midwicket boundary for a six in the penultimate over.
Dhoni also attacked Yadav, hitting him for a four and a humongous six off the last ball to finish off the innings in style.
