IPL 2020, CSK vs KKR: Who won yesterday's match?

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) denied the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a last-ball thriller, winning the match by 6 wickets. This was an important game for KKR to win in their quest for 16 points. The loss leaves them dependent on other results going their way, and their poor Net Run Rate at this stage does them no favours.

Chasing 173 for victory, CSK saw young Ruturaj Gaikwad notch up his second impressive performance on the trot. While they too emerged with their wickets intact, Watson was tied down and perished having scored significantly below a run a ball.

Ambati Rayudu joined Gaikwad and the duo made hay against the part-time spin of Rana and an erring Ferguson. Rayudu's aggressive innings ended too soon for comfort, after which KKR pulled things back with wickets.

Curran and Jadeja were there at the death for CSK. Though Curran struggled, there were no similar issues for Jadeja as he smashed two sixes on the final two balls to give CSK a consolation win.

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Nitish Rana powers KKR to 172/5

For the first time, KKR had a welcome change at the top with a wicketless powerplay. Though Shubman Gill lost his leg-stump to a spinner, Nitish Rana continued on to ensure KKR didn't have as much to do at the death.

A few questionable promotions were made by KKR. Narine was sent in at one-drop, and went back for a run-a-ball 7. Resisting growing calls to come higher up, Morgan sent in Rinku Singh, whose 11 off 11 too failed at supporting Rana adequately.

KKR did get a finishing fillip thanks to Morgan and Dinesh Karthik, whose 21 off 10 showed his smarts as a finisher and catapulted KKR above the 170 mark to pose a challenging total for CSK.

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IPL 2020, CSK vs KKR: Who was the Man of the Match?

Ruturaj Gaikwad's fearless innings won CSK the match. [PC: iplt20.com]

Nitish Rana played a potentially match-winning knock for KKR, while Ravindra Jadeja definitely turned a loss into a win with his big hits. However, it was Ruturaj Gaikwad who deservingly won the Man of the Match award.

Opening the innings once again for CSK, Ruturaj never allowed KKR to settle despite Watson's struggles at the other end. His 72 off 53 featured some confident strokes against the quick Lockie Ferguson, many of them being played with a straight bat. For his attacking innings that set up a winning platform for CSK, Ruturaj Gaikwad was the Man of the Match in yesterday's IPL game.