Faf du Plessis and bowlers stifle KKR to seal CSK’s fourth IPL title

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Uthappa and Moeen played their parts with the bat too, before Shardul Thakur and Co cut through KKR’s middle

Chennai Super Kings 192 for 3 (du Plessis 86, Moeen 37*, Narin 2-26) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 165 for 9 (Gill 51, Iyer 50, Thakur 3-38, Hazlewood 2-29) by 27 runs

Chennai Super Kings made good on their promise to erase last season’s aberration, as one comeback story trumped another in the IPL 2021 final: MS Dhoni and his team put an end to Kolkata Knight Riders’ rollicking second half of the season as they picked up their fourth IPL title.
No team, barring Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016, has won the title after finishing outside the top two since the playoffs system was introduced in the IPL, and KKR didn’t come close to turning that around. Having elected to bowl, they endured one of their worst evenings in the field since the tournament moved to the UAE, with CSK’s top order not letting their spinners settle down, while taking plenty off their fast bowlers. Faf du Plessis led the charge, making 86 as he anchored half-century stands for each of the three wickets that fell during the course of CSK’s 192. Robin Uthappa and Moeen Ali played their parts with the bat, before Shardul Thakur ended Venkatesh Iyer’s innings – and a dangerous opening stand – to cut KKR’s middle order open and consign them to their first defeat in an IPL final.

Full report to follow

Varun Shetty is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

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