Kolkata: Dewald Brevis hit a whirlwind 22-ball fifty and helped Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by two wickets in a thrilling IPL 2025 clash at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
After Noor Ahmad’s 4-31 helped CSK restrict KKR to 179/6, the five-time champions were reduced to 60/5. Brevis stepped up to hit 52 off 25 balls, hitting four fours and as many sixes, as CSK chased down 180 with two balls to spare. He was well-supported by Shivam Dube making 45 off 40 balls, as CSK landed a big blow on KKR’s chances of entering playoffs.
In the chase, CSK had a disastrous start. Ayush Mhatre fell for a duck after slapping Vaibhav Arora straight to point. Urvil Patel made a strong impression on debut by flicking Vaibhav for six, before tonking Moeen Ali for two sixes and a four. Moeen, though, bounced back by castling Devon Conway through the gate and ensure another CSK opener fell for a duck.
Patel whacked Harshit Rana for six, before he got an edge on a loft and was caught by short third man, ending his knock on an 11-ball 31. Ravichandran Ashwin’s promotion to number three backfired as he sliced to backward point off Rana, before a googly from Varun Chakaravarthy castled Ravindra Jadeja, as CSK ended power-play at 62/5.
Brevis and Dube tried resurrecting CSK’s innings, but were put on a squeeze by Narine and Chakaravarthy, as the equation for five-time champions read 87 runs needed off the last ten overs. But Brevis sparked a turnaround by hitting Arora for three sixes and two fours – bringing up his half-century off just 22 balls, as 30 runs came off the 11th over.
His fantastic knock, though, was ended by Chakaravarthy, as he holed out to long-on for 52 off 25 balls. After Brevis fell, Dube took charge by lofting Harshit Rana for two sixes, while pulling Andre Russell for a boundary.
Arora brought a twist into the game by having Dube hole out to long-off, before having Noor Ahmad give a simple catch to long-on. With the equation down to eight runs off the final over, Dhoni smacked Russell for six before Anshul Kamboj lofted over mid-off for the winning boundary and gave CSK a tense victory.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 179/6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 48, Andre Russell 38; Noor Ahmad 4-31, Ravindra Jadeja 1-34) lost to Chennai Super Kings 183/8 in 19.4 overs (Dewald Brevis 52, Shivam Dube 45; Vaibhav Arora 3-48, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-18) by two wickets.