Chennai registered their third victory on the bounce, courtesy of a comprehensive 49-run win over Kolkata at the Eden Gardens. The home team's skipper, Nitish Rana might regret asking Chennai to bat first as they scored 235 runs – the highest of this season. Devon Conway, Shivam Dube and Ajinkya Rahane all scored fifties.
In response, Kolkata could only score 186 runs. Jason Roy and Rinku Singh scored half-centuries for them, but barring that, none of the other batters could offer any fight.
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Conway set the tone for Chennai yet again with a 73-run opening stand, and the opening pair’s average this season is in excess of 40.
However, the star of the show was Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 71 runs in 29 deliveries. His strike rate is almost 200 this season, as he smashed six fours and five sixes in this fixture.
Kolkata's bowlers conceded 200+ runs for the third time this season, while their opening stand failed to deliver yet again. Sunil Narine was sent up the order, but got out for a duck, with his partner Narayan Jagadeesan scoring just the one run.
Besides the openers, Andre Russell was also disappointing as he could contribute only 9 runs to his team's tally, taking his total to 107 in seven matches.
Kolkata had a couple of saving graces in Jason Roy and Rinku Singh, with both of them scoring fifties. For Rinku, this was his fourth 40+ score.
For Chennai, the Sri Lankan duo of Maheesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana were impressive with the ball, conceding just 59 runs in the eight overs between them, alongside three wickets.
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