IPL 2021 Final: CSK vs KKR Review – Kolkata collapse as Chennai clinch their fourth title

Chennai Super Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders ending their fairytale run in the Indian Premier League 2021. KKR came from behind being seventh in the first half to sneaking in as the fourth-place team and then entered the final. But their title dream was left unachieved as CSK won their fourth title beating them by 27 runs.

Earlier in the evening, KKR captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to bowl first, following up with his strategy which took his team to the final. But this time, his bowlers were not able to get early wickets. Ruturaj Gaikwad continued his rich vein of form, scoring 32 runs from 27 balls. He had an opening stand of 61 runs with Faf du Plessis, who managed to carry on after Gaikwad was dismissed.

Robin Uthappa turned up the run rate with his cameo of 31 runs from 15 balls. He shared a 63-run stand with du Plessis, who was making sure he batted long as he went past his fifty. Moeen Ali scored 37 runs from 20 balls as well which boosted CSK’s total by a few at the very least. Ali had a stand of 58 runs with Faf, who was eventually dismissed off the last ball for 86 runs from 59 balls. CSK ended on 192 for 3. Sunil Narine had a good day with the ball ending with figures of 2 for 26 in four overs.

Chasing a huge score, KKR went out hard in their quest to repeat history. The opening stand of Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gill shined again as they put up 91 runs from 10.4 overs. Iyer was dismissed for 50 runs from 32 balls while Gill batted longer than scoring 51 runs from 43 balls. But, much like the previous match, KKR had another collapse.

From 91 for 0, they slipped to 125 for 8 in just a matter of six overs. The chief architects of this collapse were Shardul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja, who picked three and two wickets respectively. Josh Hazlewood also got two scalps while Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Bravo picked up a wicket each. There was some late-hitting by Shivam Mavi, but his 13-ball cameo of 20 runs came quite late. Lockie Ferguson got 18 runs from 11 balls as KKR finished on 165 for 9.

Top performers:

Faf du Plessis:

The South African might have just missed the orange cap by two runs, but his knock helped CSK get to a total which was going to prove too much in any high-pressure situation. Most importantly, he looked to build partnerships with everyone. His knock had seven fours and three sixes and he paced his innings really well.

Shardul Thakur: Time and again, Thakur has shown that he can pick up wickets and turn the match at his will. It was him who got the collapse started with wickets of Iyer and Nitish Rana in the same over. He later came to pick up the wicket of Rahul Tripathi to put the nail in KKR’s coffin. He ended with figures of 3 for 38 in four overs.

Personal achievements/records:

• This is the first time that the top two run-getters in the season have been from one team. Ruturaj Gaikwad ended with 635 runs while du Plessis ended with 633 runs.
• MS Dhoni played his 300th T20 game as a captain.
• Nitish Rana now has four first-ball ducks, most by anyone in the IPL games in the UAE.

What history will show:

As a result of this, Chennai Super Kings lift their fourth title (after 2010, 2011 and 2018) while Kolkata Knight Riders will end as the runners-up for the first time, having played the final and won it twice in 2012 and 2014.