Hosein helps Chennai get the better of Kolkata

CHENNAI, India (AP):

Left-arm spinners Noor Ahmad and Akeal Hosein made full use of a slow wicket and led Chennai Super Kings to a 32-run victory over winless Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League yesterday.

Ahmad (3-21) grabbed all his wickets in the space of seven balls and Hosein tied down batters with a tidy spell of 1-26 to restrict Kolkata at 160-7.

Kolkata are still searching for their first win in the tournament after four losses and one point from a rain-abandoned game.

Chennai, at eighth in the table after back-to-back wins, had earlier posted 192-5 mainly becasue of the strong finish of 72-2 in the power play when Ayush Mhatre made 38 off 17 balls and Sanju Samson started the innings with three successive boundaries on the offside against fast bowler Vaibhav Arora (1-55).

Chennai kept Kolkata to 36-2 in the power play despite Ajinkya Rahane demoting himself down the order after the skipper struggled to give his team strong starts.

The promotion of Sunil Narine saw the left-hander score 24 off 17 balls with two fours and two sixes, but Finn Allen (1) yet again perished inside the power play when he skied a simple catch to point.

Narine got a life when captain Ruturaj Gaikwad dropped a straightforward catch, but couldn’t capitalise and sliced a low full toss off Khaleel Ahmed to short third in the fifth over.

Ahmad then ran through the middle order with the wickets of Rahane and Kolkata’s million-dollar signing Cameron Green off successive balls when he bowled the tall Australian with a quicker delivery.

Rinku Singh denied Ahmad a hat-trick but perished soon after when he attempted a big shot against the left-arm Afghan spinner but holed out at mid-on.

Ramandeep Singh (35) and Rovman Powell (31 not out) never looked to threaten the target against some disciplined Chennai bowling with fast bowler Anshul Kamboj (2-32) and Ahmed (1-24) also among the wickets.

Earlier, spinners played pivotal roles in pulling things for Kolkata when Narine (1-21) and Varun Chakrvarthy (0-26) squeezed the runs in the middle overs.

Samson, who also struck three sixes, fell to the pace of Kartik Tyagi in the 12th over when the fast bowler rattled the stumps with a delivery that clocked 148.1 kph.

Dewald Brevis (41) and Sarfaraz Khan (23) shared a 51-run stand before Narine finished off his spell by clean bowling Khan in the 17th over. Tyagi followed with the wicket of Brevis when the South African batter sliced a tame catch to short third and Kolkata added 50 off the final five overs.