Noor Ahmad and Brevis sink KKR as CSK cruise to 32-run win at Chepauk
The contest looked delicately poised at the halfway stage, with Kolkata Knight Riders backing themselves to chase 193 on a Chepauk pitch that had offered runs to anyone willing to swing through the line. By the time Noor Ahmad had finished his spell, that chase was already in pieces.
Chennai Super Kings posted 192 for 5 after being put in, with three batters turning the screw in quick, unconnected bursts. Sanju Samson set the tone at the top with 48 from 32 balls, mixing four fours with three sixes. Ayush Mhatre steadied things in the middle with 38 off 17, clearing the ropes twice and crashing six fours, while Dewald Brevis finished with 41 from 29 to drag the total past 190.
Kartik Tyagi was the one KKR bowler who fought back, taking two wickets for 35. Sunil Narine was typically miserly, conceding just 21 in his four overs, but the damage had been done elsewhere.
Noor turns the chase on its head
KKR's reply never found any rhythm. Ajinkya Rahane looked the most settled of the top order before Noor Ahmad removed him for 28 from 22, and in the space of a few deliveries the Afghan left-arm wrist spinner had Cameron Green caught for a duck too. Rinku Singh followed soon after, and the required rate climbed to something close to impossible.
Rovman Powell gave the tail a little life with an unbeaten 31 from 22, but by that point the game was a damage-limitation exercise. KKR finished on 160 for 7, beaten by 32 runs.
A season slipping away for Kolkata
Chennai's win was their second in a row and will feel particularly satisfying given they had started the season with just one win from their opening four. With MS Dhoni still sidelined and targeting a return against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 18, the fact that Samson, Brevis and Mhatre are now scoring in the same innings gives Ruturaj Gaikwad's batting order a shape it has been missing.
For Kolkata, the picture is bleaker. Four losses from five games, a struggling middle order, and a bowling attack that has found very few spells as controlled as Noor's tonight. The playoff maths is not yet impossible, but it is starting to look that way.
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