IPL 2020, CSK vs KKR as it happened: Jadeja stars as CSK dent KKR’s playoff hopes, MI through

11.40 pm: That will be all from us tonight. Stay tuned for match report, updated qualification scenarios and more.

Player of the match: Ruturaj Gaikwad, for the second match on the trot.

MS Dhoni post-match quotes (courtesy: iplt20.com)

 “I think it was one game where the plans went in our favour. Needed a lot of effort from the players. Really glad the coin fell in our favour. This season Jadeja has been fantastic. He’s been the only batsman in our team who has taken the job of scoring in the last few overs. Not just using his power but through point if the field is up. I feel throughout the season we needed someone by his side. The changes are a conscious effort. We want to give games to people who haven’t played and we need them to grab those opportunities. Ruturaj we’d seen him in the nets, but then he got Covid positive and took 20 days. Unfortunate but he’ll remember this season. He’s one of the most talented players going around. What makes it difficult is he’s not somebody who speaks a lot! So sometimes it becomes difficult for the management to gauge a player. Once he started going in the innings, you could see that he was hitting the ball the way he wants to and he was planning. When we made him play the first game, he got out, stepped out. It becomes difficult to tell whether it was the pressure that made him step out or whether that’s his natural game. One ball isn’t enough. We haven’t performed in the tournament but we felt it’s important to be relevant in the tournament. That’s what we kept requesting the guys. We said you prepare how you want to, but 3-3.5 hours give your best. We are not in the position to qualify and there’s plenty of takeaways and at the same time it gives a glimpse  

Here’s how the points table looks like:

19.6: SIXXXX! Ravindra Jadeja finishes the match in style for CSK and MI have qualified for the playoffs. CSK win by 6 wickets. KKR’s playoff hopes take a massive hit.

19.5: SIXXXXXXXX! After a dot ball, it all goes wrong for Nagarkoti. In the slot, Ravindra Jadeja hits one of the biggest sixes of the tournament! 98m! What a hit. Scores are level.

19.3: Another good delivery from Nagarkoti! Just a single but Jadeja is now on strike. CSK need 7 off 3.

19.2: Two runs for Curran. CSK need 8 off 4.

19.1: CSK need 10 off 6 balls. Nagarkoti to bowl the last over. Starts off with a dot ball!

18.6: FOUR! Outside edge from Jadeja. The match has turned once again! A half century for Lockie Ferguson is not good news for KKR.

18.5: SIX! Oh dear. Full toss, no ball from Ferguson. Jadeja hits the free hit for six over fine leg. Indiscipline from Lockie Ferguson and CSK need 14 off 7 balls.

18.4: Four! Was shaping into a good over from Ferguson, but he bowls a full toss on Jadeja’s pads. CSK need 23 off 8.

CSK need 30 off 12 balls:

1-W-0-1-1-1. Pat Cummins might just have bowled his most significant over so far of this season.

WICKET! Is that the game for KKR? Ruturaj tries to scoop Cummins behind the wicket, is bowled. Out for 72 off 53 balls.

CSK 139/3 after 17: An audacious sweep over square leg off Ferguson by Gaikwad, who continues to keep CSK in the hunt here. Moves on to 72. CSK needed 34 off 3 overs.

45 off 24 needed. CSK blew it from a similar position in the reverse fixture...

CSK 128/3 after 16: Narine’s spell finishes with a four by Curran. That will be the first and last boundary Narine concedes tonight. 0/23 in 4 overs.

Varun 2/20 from 4 overs, CSK 121/3 after 15: From 93kph to 107kph for Dhoni, that was superb from Varun. But he puts down a sitter to finish his spell and Curran gets a life. How costly will that be?

CSK 121/3: For the second time in the tournament, Varun Chakravarthy has dismissed MS Dhoni bowled! It must be surreal, alright!

After 13 overs, CSK 109/1 (Gaikwad 59, Rayudu 30): Another classy boundary through covers for Ruturaj. Nine runs from Varun’s over.

After 12 overs, CSK 100/1 (Gaikwad 53, Rayudu 27): A lovely shot over point by Rayudu for six off Nagarkoti’s over. CSK have upped the ante, and there is dew too. Problems for KKR.

HALF CENTURY! Ruturaj Gaikwad is showing plenty of spark, alright. Another classy knock in a run-chase, this. Back-to-back fifties for the Maharashtra batsman.

After 11 overs, CSK 88/1 (Gaikwad 49, Rayudu 19) Expensive over from Lockie. “Unbelievable. Such a delight to watch”, says Sunil Gavaskar as its the legend’s turn to be impressed by Ruturaj Gaikwad’s batting. First, the CSK opener plays a lofted cover drive for four. The Maharashtra youngster then plays a stunning pull shot over fine leg, this one all the way for six.

After 10 overs, CSK 74/1 (Gaikwad 37, Rayudu 17) There was some pressure building on CSK in terms of the required rate. Eoin Morgan brings on Nitish Rana. Ambati Rayudu goes FOUR-FOUR-FOUR! Two lovely lofted inside out drives among that. Required rate comes down from 10.45 to 9.90.

Watch the Ruturaj six that impressed Sangakkara:

Timeout taken...

After 9 overs, CSK 58/1 (Gaikwad 33, Rayudu 4): It’s been all singles off Narine’s three overs so far. Six from that over. KKR wouldn’t really mind that, the pressure is now building on CSK.

After 8 overs, CSK 52/1 (Gaikwad 32, Rayudu 1) One of the highlights of this IPL will be DK’s constant encouragement to Varun in Tamil. Good over by the spinner, just 3 runs and a wicket.

7.3: WICKET! Much-needed for KKR. One ball after an absolute peach that turned away and beat the outside edge of Watson’s bat, Varun strikes. The Aussie opener finds the fielder at long on. Once again, Varun is the man providing a breakthrough for KKR.

After 7 overs, CSK 49/0 (Watson 14, Gaikwad 30) Just four runs off Narine’s over. CSK keen to not go after Narine and give him wickets, it would seem.

After 6 overs, CSK 44/0 (Watson 14, Gaikwad 27): Oh wow! That’s another stunning shot from Ruturaj. Punched a length ball down the ground for six. Just sheer timing on that lofted shot. “So simple. Beautiful batting,” says Kumar Sangakkara. High praise. Dhoni spoke about this last match. When Ruturaj just times the ball so well, that fours becomes sixes...

Varun Chakravarthy on to finish the powerplay...

After 5 overs, CSK 37/0 (Watson 13, Gaikwad 19): Oof! The shot of a man who has found his confidence, rhythm. Ruturaj plays a brilliant lofted straight drive off Ferguson for four. That really was a stunning shot. There was a mishit pull shot to start the over that cleared the infield for four too. Two boundaries for the opener in that over.

After 4 overs, CSK 27/0 (Watson 12, Gaikwad 9): Tidy over from Narine, just four singles in that over.

Narine on, to bowl to his bunny...

Correction: After 3 overs, CSK 23/0 (Watson 11, Gaikwad 7): Indiscipline from Cummins. Gaikwad hits a perfectly good ball through mid-off for four. The Aussie then bowls a bouncer for five wides and then Watson puts away a short ball for four past square leg. Momentum for CSK.

After 3 overs, CSK 23/0 (Watson 11, Gaikwad 7): Indiscipline from Cummins. Gaikwad hits a perfectly good ball through mid-off for four. The Aussie then bowls a bouncer for five wides and then Watson puts away a short ball for four past square leg. Momentum for CSK.

After 2 overs, CSK 9/0 (Watson 7, Gaikwad 2): A cracking six (not a sponsor plug) by Watson in that over. Short from Nagarkoti, he got into position so early and pulled it over square leg into the second tier. But, in typical CSK style, that over also had four dot balls.

After 1 over, CSK 2/0 (Watson 1, Gaikwad 1): Four dot balls from Cummins to Watson in that over. Just two singles. Good start for KKR but they will need early wickets, which has been a problem area for the side.

Watson on strike, Ruturaj opens the batting with the Aussie star. Cummins has the ball in hand...

Watch highlights of Rana’s lovely innings here:

Innings break: CSK’s batting lineup did well in their 8-wicket win against RCB in the previous match. Can they make it two good run-chases in a row?

End of 20 overs: KKR 172/5
A good cameo by DK as he finishes with 21 off 10 balls. Kolkata score 66 in the last 5.

19.2: WICKET! After hitting a four off the first ball, Eoin Morgan finds the fielder at long off. He has ended up facing just 12 balls in the innings. Surely that is not clever tactics. Bizarre. Ngidi gets the wicket in the last over.

After 19 overs, KKR 163/4 (DK 20, Morgan 11): Good recovery from Curran after being hit for a four each by Morgan and DK in the first 3 balls. Limits the damage to 13 in that over.

After 18 overs, KKR 150/4 (DK 12, Morgan 6): DK reminding folks why he is a better bet in the finishing stages of an innings. Two boundaries right away after coming into bat. A lovely scoop there. Expensive over from Ngidi.

Nitish Rana innings progression:
10 off 18
24 of 22
35 off 34
50 off 44
58 off 50
87 off 61

— First 34 balls: 35 runs, Next 27 balls: 52 runs

17.1: WICKET! No century for Nitish Rana, he is out for 87 off 61 balls. Sam Curran takes a good high catch, Lungi Ngidi with a wicket.

After 17 overs, KKR 136/3 (Rana 87, Morgan 5): Rana has scored 29 runs in the last 10 balls he has faced, quite the acceleration this. Another couple of boundaries in that over by Chahar, who has gone for runs today. 0/31 from 3 overs.

After 16 overs, KKR 125/3 (Rana 77, Morgan 4): First three balls from the Karn Sharma over were slammed for sixes by Rana. Just one run from the remaining three balls.

After 15 overs, KKR 106/3 (Rana 58, Morgan 4): Rana looking to go for the big shots and giving Morgan time to settle in too. Is this when they start the charge?

After 14 overs, KKR 97/3 (Rana 51, Morgan 2): Rana gets to another fifty in IPL 2020. But KKR now need to find another gear. The projected score of 140 may not be good enough.

After 12.5 overs, KKR 93/3 (Rana 47): WICKET! Rinku goes for the sweep shot off Jadeja, get the top-edge which is easily taken by Rayudu. Morgan finally comes in to bat.

After 12 overs, KKR 86/2 (Rana 47, Rinku 6): Just one delivery that Rinku showed intent against Karn, as the ball fell short of Curran at long on. Not sure KKR want Rinku to take his time here and rotate strike. This is slightly bizarre tactics.

After 11 overs, KKR 82/2 (Rana 45, Rinku 4): Rana has enjoyed batting against Santner, despite his slow going otherwise. Two boundaries to finish the 11th over. Santner has gone for 30 from his 3 overs.

After 10 overs, KKR 70/2 (Rana 35, Rinku 2): CSK coach Balaji says he is happy with the wickets that his side has taken and the scoreboard reflects that at the moment for Chennai. 7 runs from the 10th over bowled by Ngidi, as KKR keep their rate at 7.

After 9 overs, KKR 63/2 (Rana 29, Rinku 1): Another left-handed batsman sent in but not Morgan. Perhapas Baz wants Rinku also to go after the CSK spinners.

8.3: WICKET! Looked like Narine had been sent out with a clear mandate to go after the spinners, but after hitting Karn for a six, he is dismissed by Santner. Goes for a big shot towards the long boundary, caught by Jadeja.

After 8 overs, KKR 60/1 (Rana 27, Narine 7): Narine is the new batsman in, perhaps because CSK have two left-arm spinners and one wrist spinner. Clear mandate to go after the bowlers? Narine clears the long on fielder for a six off his second ball.

7.2: WICKET! Karn Sharma provides the breakthrough! Shubman Gill was not getting enough of the strike and he has been bowled through his defence by the leg-spinner. Looked good out there but it is another start not converted. Gill bowled by one that went through with the arm, 26 off 17 balls.

After 7 overs, KKR 52/0 (Gill 26, Rana 26): Interestingly, Dhoni goes to Jadeja despite Santner getting hit for runs in the last over. But it’s a tidy over.

After 6 overs, KKR 48/0 (Gill 24, Rana 24) FOUR-FOUR-SIX Nitish Rana was batting on 10 off 18 balls but he finally gets a move on, taking on Mitch Santner in the final over of powerplay. After losing a cluster of early wickets in their last couple of matches, KKR negotiate the first 6 without losing a wicket tonight. Perhaps that was the plan?

After 5 overs, KKR 33/0 (Gill 23, Rana 10): Ngidi into the attack. Rana goes from 6 off 16 to 10 off 17 with a four off the last delivery in that over. Much-needed for him and KKR. For a team that played without fear from 10/3 in Sharjah, they are being extra conservative in this match.

After 4 overs, KKR 28/0 (Gill 22, Rana 6): Another good over from Curran. Rana is a bit rusty at the moment, batting on 6 off 14 balls.

After 3 overs, KKR 23/0 (Gill 17, Rana 6): Another boundary off Chahar for Gill, this time a well-timed short-arm jab through midwicket. The youngster is looking in good touch.

After 2 overs, KKR 16/0 (Gill 11, Rana 5): Solid first over from Curran. Just three singles off it. Got a nice shape away from Rana on one of the deliveries, defended well by KKR opener.

Sam Curran into the attack

After 1 over, KKR 13/0 (Gill 9, Rana 4): Gill starts off with consecutive boundaries. Width on offer first ball, square cut elegantly. Next ball, a streaky inside edge goes to fine leg fence. Rana too gets away with an outside edge off the first ball, outside edge goes for four.

Nothing to lose for CSK. Plenty to gain for KKR. Chahar has the ball in hand, Gill and Rana opening the batting. All set in Dubai!

7.25 pm: Dhoni said some changes are injury-based, one not. Did not say which is which but one can perhaps assume Faf du Plessis has a niggle because he wouldn’t be dropped otherwise.

Confirmation of the playing XIs: Both teams have made changes. Three for CSK, one for KKR.

Chennai Super Kings:
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Shane Watson
Ambati Rayudu
MS Dhoni (C) (W)
Narayan Jagadeesan
Mitchell Santner
Ravindra Jadeja
Sam Curran
Karn Sharma
Deepak Chahar
Lungi Ngidi 

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Shubman Gill
Nitish Rana
Rahul Tripathi
Dinesh Karthik (W)
Eoin Morgan (C)
Rinku Singh
Sunil Narine
Kamlesh Nagarkoti
Pat Cummins
Lockie Ferguson
Varun Chakravarthy

Here’s the pitch report from Dubai:

TOSS UPDATE: MS Dhoni wins the toss and opts to bowl first, citing chances of dew later in the night. Big news from the toss is that still no DreRuss for KKR.

06.59 pm: According to Star Sports, KKR are looking to do the double against CSK in a season for the first time in IPL history.

6.57 pm: When these sides met earlier in IPL 2020, KKR emerged winners after a bizarre run-chase by CSK.

Some banter between teams on social media:

6.45 pm: We still do not have an official qualification for playoffs but that could change tonight. Not for these two teams though, it’s Mumbai Indians fans who will have a keen eye on this match.

Qualification scenarios for the Indian Premier League playoffs explained

6.40 pm: Hello and welcome to the live coverage of match No 49 in the Indian Premier League, season 13. We still do not have a guaranteed qualifier for the playoffs in the tournament yet and that could change tonight.

Already out of play-offs reckoning, a relaxed Chennai Super Kings will look to play spoilsport in Kolkata Knight Riders’ desperate bid for a victory today. If CSK win, MI actually make it to the playoffs.

KKR with 12 points from 12 games would like to win the next two encounters to ensure a smooth passage (relatively speaking) while CSK, currently at the bottom of the eight-team table, are only playing for pride.

A possibility remains that multiple teams will end up on either 16 or 14 points and a comprehensive victory at this stage of the tournament, will bring the superior net run-rate into the equation when the playoff spots are decided.

Here’s how the points table looks like ahead of the match: