PICS: Bowlers earn Knight Riders victory as Super Kings choke

Images from Wednesday's IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings, in Abu Dhabi.

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Rahul Tripathi celebrated his promotion to the top, striking a 51-ball 81, as Kolkata Knight Riders returned to winning ways with a 10-run victory over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League match, in Abu Dhabi, on Wednesday.

The Maharashtra batsman stood tall on the way to his fifth IPL fifty before Kolkata Knight Riders faltered in the back end of the innings and were bowled out for 167.

However, the lack of runs in the final over hardly mattered, as Chennai Super Kings, in reply, were stopped at 157 for five.

Having restored confidence with a whirlwind 83 not out against Kings XI Punjab, veteran Australian batsman Shane Watson picked up from where he had left to slam a 40-ball 50, his 21st in the lucrative T20 league.

Opening the innings with Faf du Plessis (17 off 10 balls), he was steady from the outset, but after the exit of his partner he feasted on the short-ball strategy of the Knight Riders bowlers in a 69-run partnership with Ambati Rayudu (30 off 27 balls).

However, needing 78 runs in the last 10 overs, the Chennai duo departed for addition of just two runs.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, coming out to bat at No. 4, was out for 11 in the 17th over.

Though Sam Curran hit 17 off 11 balls, it was not enough as the Super Kings fell well short of what looked like an easy chase when Watson was blazing away.

Chennai Super Kings, after their fourth defeat in the last five games, stay fifth in the standings, while the Knight Riders moved to third, with three wins from five games.

Earlier, thanks to opener Rahul Tripathi's 51-ball 81 Kolkata Knight Riders put up a decent for 167.

Batting first, they Riders lost three wickets in the last over, Dwayne Bravo accounting two of them. Their last seven fell in the final five overs for only 39 runs

Super Kings veteran Bravo, who celebrated his 37th birthday on Wednesday, returned impressive figures of 3 for 37 in his quota of four overs.

Tripathi enjoyed his promotion to the top with an excellent fifty, but the Chennai Super Kings bowlers applied the brakes to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders.

Tripathi picked up from where he left off against Delhi Capitals and raced to his fifth IPL fifty off 31 balls to give Kolkata a solid foundation after Dinesh Karthik called it right at the toss.

With the score 93 for 2 at the half-way stage, Kolkata looked set for a big total before Bravo struck.

Leg-spinner Karn Sharma (2/25), Shradul Thakur (2/28), Sam Curran (2/26) claimed two wickets each as the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side bounced back in the back 10 by taking eight wickets and giving away just 74 runs.

Dhoni picked four catches, the last one his best effort.

On a Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch that seemed to slow down, Tripathi played a risk-free knock and maintained a healthy run-rate.

Karthik made a baffling decision by sending Sunil Narine ahead of their best batsman, Eoin Morgan, at No. 4. However, Narine did his job with a nine-ball 17 before being dismissed by an excellent combined effort by a diving Ravindra Jadeja and Faf du Plessis, the former pulling off a brilliant catch just ahead of the boundary and relaying it to the South African to complete it.

Morgan started with a classical cover drive boundary but Curran cut short his innings with a bouncer that climbed in and took a faint edge behind the stumps.

Thakur, who had provided the first breakthrough by dismissing an in-form Shubman Gill (11), claimed the big wicket of Andre Russell with a cross-seam short delivery as the Knight Riders dazzler struggled to get going.