Wednesday’s IPL clash between Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings turned out to be an absolute smash fest; as the latter managed to survive a late six-hitting scare and sealed an 18-run victory.

Roller-coaster high-scoring game ends with Chennai winning by 18-runs

In a game that saw as many as 26-sixes hit between the two teams, ironically, it was Chennai’s fast-bowlers who won them the deal. More specifically, Deepak Chahar’s aggressive spell (4-0-29-4) in the powerplay, which saw him dismiss as many as 4 KKR batsmen, set up CSK for what looked like an easy victory. But, as has always been with the IPL- it wasn’t over until it was over.

Chasing 221, the Knight Riders found them in a spot of massive concern, with the scorecard reading 31/5. It was Andre Russell (54 off 22) and Dinesh Karthik’s (40 off 24) blistering 81-run partnership that got them back on track. However, post-Dre Russ’ wicket- shortly followed by that of DK- KKR found themselves in a spot of bother yet again, needing 75 to win off the last 5 overs.

That’s when Pat Cummins, Kolkata’s all-time most expensive IPL player, decided to add a twist to the tale. The mercurial Aussie all-rounder blazed off to 66-runs off 34-balls, giving his team an unlikely but genuine shot at pulling off the chase. His efforts ultimately fell short, though, as the KKR lower-order fell prey to some unfortunate run-outs; but still, it was a more than commendable rearguard action from Cummins.

Faf du Plessis’ effortless 95-run innings

As for Chennai, their in-form batting unit managed to set up another successful run-total defence; this time on the back of Faf du Plessis’s blistering 95-run knock. The former South Africa captain stayed unbeaten through the end and narrowly missed out on a century, but his flamboyance at the Chennai top-order ensured that his team walked off with two crucial points.

In fact, du Plessis’ relentless batting approach is what features him on our highlights reel from last night’s match- although not quite for the reasons you might expect. During the 16th over of CSK’s innings, Faf had a fiery run-in with the young Kolkata pacer, Prasidh Krishna.

It started from the fourth ball of the over when Prasidh lobbed a waist-high full-toss in Faf’s direction. The delivery looked dangerously close to a no-ball; for all we know, it could have ended up as a high-risk beamer. Thankfully, Faf avoided getting hit, but he didn’t seem too pleased with Prasidh’s reaction on the whole issue. Instead of apologizing for the potentially life-risking ball, the latter got fired up and directed some inaudible verbal jabs at Faf.

Prasidh bowls a dangerous waist-high ball and sledges; Faf teaches him a valuable lesson in humility

The sledge from Prasidh came out of nowhere, and was, frankly, unnecessary. So Faf, being the veteran batting pro that he is, decided to teach him a lesson in discipline.

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On his very next delivery- a smartly guided, back-of-the-length, slower delivery on the off-side; Faf went down and his knees and played a gorgeous scoop over short fine-leg. The ball raced away to the boundary, spoiling Prasidh’s match figures even more than they already were. But more importantly, Faf’s cleverly timed shot imparted a much-deserved lesson of humility to the steaming 25-year-old quick. And Twitterati was all in for it.

https://twitter.com/lodulalit001/status/1384891762645291011?s=20

https://twitter.com/TheScorpionKink/status/1384891457828528129?s=20

https://twitter.com/kantaalgyahuyar/status/1384890895988822017?s=20