Kolkata Knight Riders’ hopes for qualifying to the playoffs in IPL 2025 hang by a thread by while Chennai Super Kings are down and out. KKR will now host the five-time champions in Match No. 57 at the iconic Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Both teams went through nerve-wracking thrillers in their respective previous fixtures, but ended on different sides of the result. KKR took a rare decision to bat first against RR in Kolkata and were simply motoring along until Andre Russell came to the party. Russell was struggling initially, but eventually did what he does best – hit sixes. The Caribbean all-rounder’s monster knock gave KKR the perfect push to go past the 200-run mark despite an ordinary start.
RR’s chase was much more eventful. The Riyan Parag-led side lost wickets in the powerplay in pursuit of the powerplay, and it was made worse by Varun Chakravarthy’s double strike once the field restrictions were removed. Riyan Parag then played a lone hand in the fightback, the major highlight being him hitting five sixes in an over against Moeen Ali. Shimron Hetmyer gave Parag the support he needed, but Parag fell for 95, missing out on his well-deserved century by a whisker. It looked like KKR had it in the bag once RR needed the tall order of 19 runs off the last four balls of the innings to be bowled by Vaibhav Arora.
Shubham Dubey sent the next three balls for two sixes and a boundary leaving RR to chase three runs off the last ball, which they couldn’t as KKR won by just one run.
CSK also went down to RCB in a similar 2-run loss in Bengaluru. Virat Kohli and Jacob Bethell started off with aggressive fifties, but Matheesha Pathirana’s middle-over strikes brought a lull in the innings. Romario Shepherd then set the Chinnaswamy ablaze in the last two overs by first sending Khaleel Ahmed for a 33-run over and then completing the joint second fastest fifty in IPL history off the last ball of the innings to push RCB past the 200 mark.
RCB got important strikes early in the powerplay, but 17-year old Ayush Mhatre was in full flow. Mhatre and Jadeja stitched an important partnership that slowly and surely put the game in CSK’s favour. Eventually, Lungi Ngidi prised out Mhatre for 94 and dismissed Dewald Brevis off the next ball under dubious circumstances. RCB saw their way in and eventually the equation was reduced to 13 runs in 3 balls. Yash Dayal had dismissed MS Dhoni off the previous ball and RCB were somehow in pole position.
With 13 needed off 3, Shivam Dube sent a beamer from Dayal into the stands, but Dayal regained his composure to bowl RCB to a 2-run win after CSK needed 6 runs off the last 3 balls on a free-hit.
The loss to the Rajat Patidar-led side was MS Dhoni & Co.’s fourth in a row. The five-time champions have already gone through one streak of five losses in a row this season, the last of which came in the reverse fixture in Chennai.
All of KKR’s bowlers put up a miserly show and were among the wickets as CSK were restricted to a paltry 103/9 – their lowest total ever at their fortress in Chepauk. Sunil Narine added a quickfire 44 to his three wickets as KKR took just half the overs to chase the target down.
Check Here: CSK vs KKR Head-to-Head Stats & Records – Latest & Updated
Upcoming Milestones for Players in KKR vs CSK, Match 57 of IPL 2025
KKR Players’ Upcoming Milestones
- Ajinkya Rahane: Needs 31 runs to complete 5,000 runs in IPL.
- Varun Chakravarthy: Needs 2 wickets to complete 100 wickets in the league.
- Chakravarthy: Needs 3 wickets to complete 100 IPL wickets for KKR. He has 1 wicket for Punjab Kings.
- Moeen Ali: Needs 2 wickets to complete 250 T20 wickets.
- Andre Russell: Set to play his 550th T20.
CSK Players’ Upcoming Milestones
- Ravindra Jadeja: Needs 1 wicket to become CSK’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament’s history.
- Jadeja: Needs 56 runs to reach 4,000 runs in T20s.
- Sam Curran: Needs 3 runs to reach 1,000 runs in IPL.
- Matheesha Pathirana: Needs 4 wickets to reach 50 IPL wickets.
