ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Veteran West Indies all-rounder, Dwayne Bravo celebrated his 37 birthday after he snatched a three-wicket haul to reach 150 wickets in the Indian Premier League but Chennai Super Kings came up short with the bat to slump to a 10-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.
With both Andre Russell and Sunil Narine mis-firing with the bat, KKR were dismissed for 167 off their 20 overs, after choosing to bat first at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Opener Rahul Tripathi top-scored with 81 off 51 deliveries in only his second appearance of the season but was the only batsman to pass 20 as KKR tailed off badly following a strong start.
Bravo picked up two of his wickets and conceded just five runs in the final over to be the best bowler with three for 37 from his four overs of medium pace.
Narine, pushed down the order to four, extended his poor run with 17 off nine balls while Russell, in at number six, lasted four balls for his two before edging a slog behind off seamer Shardul Thankur in the 16th over.
In reply, Australian opener Shane Watson top-scored with 50 and Ambati Rayudu chipped in with 30 but CSK could only muster 157 for five off their 20 overs.
They were cruising at 90 for one at the halfway mark but managed only 67 runs from the last 10 overs.
Watson put on 30 for the first wicket with Faf du Plessis (17) and a further 69 for the second with Rayudu but off-spinner Narine (1-31) struck the key blow in the 14th over when he trapped Watson lbw.
Russell, who finished with one for 18 from two overs, prised out the dangerous Sam Curran (17) at the start of the 18th over, with the Englishman beginning to wind up with a four and a six off 11 balls, to further stall the innings.
Tasked with defending 26 runs in the last over, Russell gave up a six and two fours off the last three balls as Ravindra Jadeja (21 not out) went on a late charge.
(CMC)
