Kolkata: Dwayne Bravo smashed a last-ball six as Chennai Super Kings pulled off a stunning five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in a dramatic Indian Premier League match to keep their hopes of a play-off berth alive here on Monday.
With five runs required from the last ball, Bravo (11 not out off seven balls) smashed Rajat Bhatia for a six over long on to stun a jampacked crowd at Eden Gardens.
Chasing 159 for a win, Michael Hussey (39 from 56 balls) and Murali Vijay (36 from 25 balls) set the platform with a 97-run stand from 10.2 overs for the opening wicket.
But Sunil Narine’s mystery bowling, in which he claimed 2/14, swung the momentum in favour of KKR before Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (28 balls from 21 balls) set up the match nicely, taking 18 runs from the penultimate over bowled by Marchant de Lange.
Nine runs were required from the last over but with Dhoni being dismissed when he was bowled by a slower ball by Bhatia in the second ball, the match went down to the wire.
Aiming to send the ball out of the park, Bravo miscued one delivery in the penultimate ball when his bat slipped out of his hands on to the midwicket to take the match to a last ball finish. With the win today, Chennai climbed to fourth spot in the table to with 17 points from 15 matches, the same as KKR who occupied the third spot with a better net run rate.
The win also avenged Chennai’s first-leg defeat at home against the same opponents. Chennai were given an aggressive start by Hussey and Vijay who put on 97-run partnership from 62 balls. Vijay complemented the Aussie with some delightful strokes. (PTI)