Short Blitz Dims Kolkata Knight Riders' IPL Playoff Chances

In a remarkable performance, South Africa’s Dewald Brevis scored an impressive 50 off just 22 balls, helping Chennai Super Kings defeat Kolkata Knight Riders by two wickets on Wednesday. This victory puts the current IPL champions in serious jeopardy of being excluded from the playoff round.

Pursuing 180 for the win, Chennai fell to 60-5 during their first six overs until Brevis scored 52 runs and replacement player Shivam Dube contributed 45 to navigate the side across the finish line with two deliveries remaining at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

When Chennai required eight runs from the final over, Skipper M.S. Dhoni smashed a six and remained not out on 17. The victory was sealed by number 10 batsman Anshul Kamboj, who struck the winning boundary off Andre Russell.

Kolkata’s hopes of securing a playoff spot have become precarious as they must win their last two games and rely on favorable outcomes from other fixtures.

Chennai, who have won five titles before, were already eliminated from contention for the playoffs.

Afghanistan's spinner Noor Ahmad paved the way for victory by claiming four wickets, which restricted Kolkata to 179-6.

As a response, Chennai’s opening pair of Ayush Mhatre and Devon Conway were dismissed without scoring; however, newcomer Urvil Patel thrashed the Kolkata bowlers during his quickfire 11-ball innings of 31 runs in his first-ever IPL match.

Bowler Varun Chakravarthy spun at Ravindra Jadeja, yet Brevis and Dube got the chase going again with their well-constructed partnership.

Brevis took his time to get going before he blasted 30 runs off Vaibhav Arora, reaching his 50 with three sixes and three fours in one over.

Chakravarthy soon cut short Brevis' blitz, but the left-handed Dube then found Dhoni for company and the two chugged along.

Arora dismissed Dube as Rinku Singh clung on to a steepling catch before taking another opportunity to dismiss Noor, but Dhoni and Kamboj got the team through to just their third win in 12 matches.

Earlier Kolkata lost opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz early on 11 before Sunil Narine (26) and skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who made 48, put on 58 runs to rebuild the innings.

Noor shattered the wicket with his left-arm wrist spin, leading to Narine being stumped by Dhoni. Three deliveries afterward, he also had Angkrish Raghuvanshi caught behind for just one run.

Rahane had company from Manish Pandey, however, he couldn’t reach his 50 due to Jadeja’s left-arm spin. He lofted a reverse sweep to the region of backward point.

Pandey remained steadfast and together they amassed 46 runs with Russell, who smashed 38 off just 21 deliveries until Noor intervened once more, catching the powerful hitter at long-off.

Noor eliminated Rinku for nine, and even with Manish's involvement, Kolkata's overall score still fell short.

India: A bomb threat was reported during the KKR versus CSK cricket match in Kolkata. Under pressure, Pant struggles as expensive IPL purchase falls short of expectations