Rahul Tripathi scored a fluent 81, as Kolkata Knight Riders snatched an unlikely 10 run win against Chennai Super Kings at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Chennai included Karn Sharma in place of Piyush Chawla, while Kolkata went in with an unchanged line up.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, there was a change at the top of the order for the Knight Riders with Rahul Tripathi opening alongside Shubman Gill for the first time.
Despite losing Gill early, Tripathi cashed in and scored flurry of boundaries in the powerplay, as KKR reached 52/1.
Karn Sharma provided a vital breaking by dismissing Nitish Rana courtesy an outstanding catch between Ravindra Jadeja and Faf du Plessis.
Sunil Narine who came in at No 4 was dismissed for a 9 ball 17. In the space of two overs Morgan and all rounder Andre Russell were dismissed by Sam Curran and Shardul Thakur, as KKR were in a spot of bother at 128/5.
Tripathi’s belligerent knock of 81 ended, as was caught at short third man while attempting to slice Bravo in the 17th over.
Skipper Dinesh Karthik and Pat Cummins chipped in with a few runs at the end, as KKR were folded for 167 at the end of 20 overs.
Bravo was Chennai’s best bowler with figures of 3/37, while leg-spinner Karn Sharma, playing his first game this season bagged 2/25.
Chasing 168 to win, CSK opening pair off Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson got their team of to a good start by adding 30 runs for the opening stand, before the former was dismissed by Shivam Mavi for 17.
Watson along with Ambati Rayudu stitched together a 69-run stand, before the latter was removed by young Kamlesh Nagarkoti in the 13th over.
Six balls later, the former Australian opener was dismissed leg before wicket by Narine for a 40-ball 50.
The duo off Dhoni and Sam Curran put on 28 runs for the fourth wicket, before the CSK skipper was castled by Varun Chakravarthy for 11 runs.
With 39 required off 18 balls, Russell bowled a superb 18th over, as he gave away just 3 runs and claimed the important wicket of Sam Curran who was caught at extra cover by Morgan.
Kedar Jadhav’s sloppy batting led to CSK’s downfall, as they ended up with 157/5 at the end of 20 overs.
Rahul Tripathi was declared the Man of the Match.