Ruturaj Gaikwad scored his second consecutive half century, as Chennai Super Kings defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by 6 wickets in a last ball thriller at Dubai on Thursday.
Chennai Super Kings made 3 changes in the playing XI by including Shane Watson, Lungi Ngidi and Karn Sharma and dropping Faf Du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Monu Kumar, while for Kolkata Knight Riders Rinku Singh came in for Prasidh Krishna.
After being sent in by CSK, KKR got off to a solid start with Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana putting on 53 runs for the opening wicket, before the former was bowled by Karn Sharma for 26.
Sunil Narine who came in at No 3 ,smashed a six of his second ball, but was unable to clear a Mitchell Santner again, with Ravi Jadeja taking a fine catch.
Rinku Singh who surprisingly came ahead of Eoin Morgan at No 4, made a run-a-ball 11 before falling to Jadeja.
Rana and skipper Morgan added 44 valuable runs for the fourth wicket, before the former was caught by Sam Curran off Ngidi for a fine 87 (61).
Dinesh Karthik then scored a 10 ball 21 to take Knight Riders to a challenging total of 172/5 at the end of 20 overs.
Lungi Ngidi was the best bowler for CSK with figures of 2/34, while Santner, Jadeja and Karn Sharma claimed a wicket each.
Chasing 173, CSK got off to a good start with openers Shane Watson and Ruturaj Gaikwad putting on 50 runs for the opening stand, before Watson fell to Varun Chakravarthy for 14.
Gaikwad combined with Ambati Rayudu to add 68 runs for the second wicket, before the latter was caught at mid off by Narine off Cummins for a well made 38.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who came in at No 4 fell to mystery spinner Chakravarthy for the second time in the tournament. The CSK skipper was bowled while attempting to cut for 1.
With 34 requiring off 18 balls, Pat Cummins bowled a brilliant 18th over by conceding just 4 runs and dismissing the 23 year old Gaikwad for a brilliant 72. His knock came off 53 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes.
However Lockie Ferguson in the 19th over bowled a no ball for height that resulted in a free hit which was dispatched for six by Jadeja.
With 10 needed in the final over, Kamlesh Nagarkoti first 4 deliveries were excellent, but the youngster lost the plot in the final two, as he was smoked for consecutive sixes by Jadeja as CSK ran out winners by 6 wickets.