Afghan spinner Noor Ahmad returned impressive figures of 3-21 as Chennai Super Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 32 runs for their second straight IPL win on Tuesday.
Five-time winners Chennai posted 192-5, riding on knocks from Sanju Samson, who hit 48, and Dewald Brevis (41) after being invited to bat first at their home M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Noor then turned on the heat with his left-arm wrist spin to keep Kolkata down to 160-7 in reply as they remain winless in their five outings.
“It gives a lot of confidence,” player of the match Noor said of his performance. “Will keep putting a lot of effort to keep contributing to my team.”
Kolkata sit last in the standings with one point, which came courtesy of a washed-out game.
Chennai kept up their momentum after starting the season with three consecutive defeats, and now with back-to-back victories move up to eighth place.
One of the most successful franchises in the T20 tournament, Chennai are still waiting for the return of M.S. Dhoni, who is recovering from a calf injury and is yet to play a game in this edition.
Three-time champions Kolkata lost three early wickets in their chase, including Finn Allen (one) and Sunil Narine (24), but were in the hunt before Noor struck.
Noor took down skipper Ajinkya Rahane for 28 and Australia’s Cameron Green for a golden duck on successive balls but the hat-trick was avoided by Rinku Singh in his next over.
But Rinku did not last long and was caught out at long-on for six as Kolkata slipped to 90-6.
Rovman Powell, who hit an unbeaten 31, and Ramandeep Singh (35) attempted to revive the chase but could never keep up with the asking rate.
“We just have to keep that head up and just be positive and have that self-belief,” said Rahane.
Earlier, Samson, who hit a century in the previous match, kept up his form to hand the team a quick start in his 32-ball knock laced with four fours and three sixes.
Ayush Mhatre’s 17-ball 38 and crucial runs by Brevis and Sarfaraz Khan (23) allowed Chennai to post a challenging total despite tidy bowling by Kolkata at the backend.
Source: Khaleej Times