IPL 2021 Final | Du Plessis delight with bat, Kolkata’s middle-overs collapse ensures 4th title for CSK

After finishing at the bottom of the table in IPL 2020, Chennai Super Kings came back strongly to win the 2021 edition on Friday, October 15 in Dubai. It was a delightful ending for the Chennai Super Kings’ comeback trail as they turned things around once again after staring down at a tough fight against Kolkata who were 91-0 at a point of time in the first 10 overs, chasing 193. 

In the end, even a 39 run partnership off just 20 balls between Shivam Mavi and Lockie Ferguson for the ninth wicket was not enough to cause any harm whatsoever for the yellow army which eventually on the game by a huge margin of 27 runs to lift its fourth title in ninth final appearance. 

Venkatesh Iyer, the find of the UAE leg for KKR and for the entire IPL hit a brilliant fifty but wasn’t able to continue and after his wicket, which broke the 91-run partnership KKR lost a flurry of wickets and broke down to 125-8, losing eight wickets for just 34 runs and in 35 balls. The wickets were shared between Shardul Thakur, Ravindra Jadeja and Josh Hazlewood.

The entire middle order of KKR disappointed with the bat with none among Dinesh Karthik, Eoin Morgan, Shakib al Hasan and Nitish Rana getting into double figures. Rahul Tripathi, who was injured while fielding in the first innings, had to come to bat but couldn’t do anything much and got out for only two off three balls. 

Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss, KKR skipper Eoin morgan asked CSK to bat first. After wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik dropped a tough chance of Faf du Plessis in the third over, bowled by Shakib Al Hasan, the Protea made full use of it and scored a brilliant 86 off just 59 balls to push Chennai past 190. Useful contributions also came from Ruturaj Gaikwad (32 off 27), Robin Uthappa (31 off 15) and Moeen Ali (37* off 20).