Dhoni hits a six in the last over, Chennai's thrilling win

 

8 runs needed from 6 balls. 2 wickets in hand. The excitement was at its peak. But Mahendra Singh Dhoni put an end to all the excitement by hitting a six off the first ball of the 20th over bowled by Andre Russell. The former captain left the field after leading Chennai Super Kings to a 2-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in a responsible innings of 17 runs from 18 balls.

This is only the third win in 12 matches for Chennai, who were already eliminated. Kolkata, who suffered their sixth loss in 12 matches, are still in the play-off race.

Chennai's target was 180 runs. Although openers Ayush Mhatre and Devon Conway were dismissed for ducks, Chennai later found a way to chase the runs through the batsmen of Dewald Brevis and Shivam Dube. Brevis played a whirlwind innings of 52 runs off 25 balls, hitting 4 fours and 4 sixes. Dube scored 45 off 40 balls.

Earlier, Mathisa Pathirana gave away 14 runs in the 18th over. But he bowled tightly in the last over of the innings. As a result, the capital was not what Kolkata Knight Riders expected. Kolkata was stopped at 179 runs for 6 wickets at the home ground Eden Gardens.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, Kolkata lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz (11 off 9 balls) at the start, but then, with the bat of Sunil Narine and Ajinkya Rahane, scored 67 runs in 6 overs of the power play.

Narine returned to the dressing room in the eighth over after scoring 26 off 17 balls. Ankrush Raghuvanshi was dismissed in that over (1). Rahane then took the team past the hundred mark. The Kolkata captain returned to the threshold of his half-century (48) off 33 balls with 4 boundaries and 2 sixes.

Andre Russell continued to play as soon as he came to the wicket. He scored 38 off 21 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Rinku Singh returned with 9 off 6 balls.

Meanwhile, Manish Pandey was set on the wicket. However, he could not open his hands in the end. Kolkata could only take 6 runs in the last over of Mathisa Pathirana. Manish remained unbeaten on 36 runs off 28 balls with a four and a six.