Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to bat first. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sunil Narine faced Khaleel Ahmed, who started with the new ball. Gurbaz began the match with a beautiful cover drive for a boundary. However, Khaleel came back strong, and Gurbaz struggled to time his length balls, ending the first over with just 5 runs.
Anshul Kamboj was the next bowler, and his over started with a massive six as Gurbaz connected perfectly and cleared mid-wicket with ease. Unfortunately, Gurbaz's innings was cut short a few balls later when he was caught at short mid-wicket by Noor Ahmed. Anshul's change in pace proved effective in dismissing the opening batter.
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Rahane and Narine Steady the Ship
Ajinkya Rahane was next to come in, and he quickly got off the mark with a four off an outside edge. Despite the early wicket, both Rahane and Narine played smartly during the powerplay, finding gaps and scoring heavily. They managed to hit Ravi Ashwin for a 15-run over, and with frequent boundaries, they finished the first 6 overs with a score of 67 runs for 1 wicket.
MS Dhoni started to utilize his spinners, with Ravi Ashwin and Noor Ahmed bowling from both ends and putting pressure on the set batters. Noor Ahmed struck first by dismissing Sunil Narine with a brilliant delivery, and MS Dhoni executed a special stumping to remove Narine for 26 runs off 17 balls. Noor continued to pose a threat, dismissing Angkirsh Raghuvanshi shortly after, who fell to a sharp catch by MS Dhoni for just 1 run off 2 balls.
With the CSK spinners gaining momentum, Ajinkya Rahane remained composed and set his sights on a fifty. He hit some powerful boundaries after the drinks break, particularly targeting Ravindra Jadeja. Despite the setbacks in the powerplay, KKR finished the first 10 overs at 87 runs for 3 wickets, with Manish Pandey and Ajinkya Rahane forming a promising partnership. Stay tuned for the end-of-innings highlights!
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