The match against Chennai was critical for Kolkata to stay in the race for the playoffs. KKR won that match against Chennai. Kolkata beat Dhoni’s Chennai by 6 wickets on Sunday (May 14).

Chennai won the toss and decided to bat first. CSK got a modest collection of 144 runs riding on the bat of Conway, Dubey, and Jadeja. Shivam Dube scored 48 and Devon Conway scored 30 runs. Chennai did not get an extensive collection mainly due to controlled bowling by KKR bowlers. Varun Chakraborty and Sunil Narine got two wickets each for Kolkata.

In response, Calcutta was in dire straits at the start of batting on this small target. They lost 3 wickets for 33 runs. But from there Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh took the lead of the team. Rinku was dismissed for 54 runs off 43 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes, but captain Nitish remained unbeaten on 57 runs off 44 balls. Kolkata scored 6 fours and 1 six on the boundaries of the Kolkata skipper to get the winning run.

With this win, however, Kolkata could not climb higher in the table. KKR is seventh in the table with 12 points in 13 matches. But despite this loss, Dhoni’s Chennai is well ahead in the race for the playoffs. They are second in the table with 15 points from 13 matches.