Chennai Super Kings defeat Kolkata Knight Riders in a practice game at Abu Dhabi

Chennai Super Kings while batting against the Kolkata Knight Riders

With just one more day to go for IPL 7, a warm-up game was scheduled between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on Monday, which saw CSK emerge as comfortable winners over KKR.

Gautam Gambhir captained the Kolkata outfit, while the Chennai side was led by South African international Faf Du Plessis. Batting first, the Knight Riders scored 121 for 8 in 20 overs. CSK, in reply, got off to a fine start, scoring 52 runs in a matter of 4 overs.

Dwayne Smith retiring after a solid performance

Dwayne Smith batted pretty aggressively, spearheading his team’s chase. Smith got off to a flying start scoring in boundaries and sixes as he struck a rapid 55 from 21 balls.

The target set by KKR turned out to be comfortable for the Super Kings as they reached 116/1 in 12 overs. With 8 overs to spare and the players feeling the need to gain some match time, the target was revised to 165 after both the teams mutually agreed on the decision.

Dwayne Smith opted to retire after his dominating performance of 74 from 31 balls, and he was replaced by Brendon McCullum, who managed to score 25 runs off 23 balls.