Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday suffered a humiliating eight-wicket defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), as the MS Dhoni-led side, for the first time, lost three matches in a row at their hallowed home ground of Chepauk in their proud Indian Premier League history.

It was yet another dismal batting performance by the five-time champions, who were completely dismantled by a clinical KKR side, slumping to their fifth straight loss of the season.

The disappointing showing came in a match where the legendary Dhoni took charge of the team after regular skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the remainder of the IPL due to injury.

Dhoni managed just one run off four balls before being dismissed in the 16th over, having come in to bat at number nine.

Invited to bat, a completely disoriented CSK could manage only a paltry 103 for nine, their lowest total at Chepauk, as KKR dished out a clinical bowling show.

It was CSK’s third lowest total in the IPL and the lowest by any team in this edition so far.

Chasing a paltry 104 for a win, KKR cantered home in 10.1 overs with opener Sunil Narine bludgeoning his way to a 18-ball 44 studded with two fours and five sixes.

Captain Ajinkya Rahane also played his part with a solid 20 not out off 17 balls, while Quinton de Kock, the other opener, contributed 23. Rinku Singh also remained not out on 15 off 12 balls.

Narine greeted Khaleel Ahmed with a six in the first over itself before de Kock did the same to Anshul Kamboj as runs came pouring. De Kock then punished Ahmed with two sixes.

Narine did not spare former India spinner R Ashwin, hitting him for a six and a four in the fourth over.

De Kock fell in the fifth over but one-down Rahane did not give any respite to the CSK bowlers as KKR reached 71 for 1 after powerplay overs.

KKR needed just 33 runs after powerplay and they lost Narine in the eighth over but achieved the target without any fuss.

Rinku Singh finished the chase in style, hitting a six off Ravindra Jadeja in the 11th over. 

Earlier, Narine (3/13) grabbed three wickets, while Harshit Rana and Varun Chakaravarthy got two each after CSK were invited to bat. Nothing went right for CSK in their home ground as they could hit just eight boundaries and a six in the entire innings.

Shivam Dube top-scored with an unbeaten 31 off 29 balls, while Vijay Shankar made 29 after living a charmed life. Only two other CSK batters made runs in double-digit figures. 

CSK’s powerplay woes continued as they made 31 for the loss of two wickets, the second lowest by any team in six overs this season. It could have been much lower but for the 13 runs scored in the sixth over with back-to-back fours from Shankar off Chakaravarthy.

Moeen Ali removed Devon Conway (12) in the fourth over, while Rana got the wicket of Rachin Ravindra (4) in the fifth. The home side would have been three down during powerplay had Narine not dropped Shankar in the fifth over, failing to hold on to a sitter at mid-off.

Shankar’s luck finally ran out in the 10th over as he holed out to Moeen, leaving CSK at 61 for 3 at the halfway stage.

Wickets continued to tumble as the struggling Rahul Tripathi (22) was clean-bowled by Narine, Ravichandran Ashwin was out for one run from seven balls and Ravindra Jadeja (0) also lasted just two balls. The home side were 71 for 6 at that stage.

After Deepak Hooda (0) fell in the next over, Dhoni came out to bat with CSK at 72 for 7 in 14.2 overs.

The writing was on the wall for CSK and the Chepauk crowd fell silent when Dhoni was adjudged LBW off Narine. Dhoni opted for a review, seemingly indicating there was bat involved, but the decision stood.

More than four overs were left after Dhoni’s departure and CSK went past the 100-run mark, thanks mainly to Dube.

The craftiness of spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam echoed in the assiduous unbeaten 93 of KL Rahul as Delhi Capitals overcame a top-order meltdown to score a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Once the Royal Challengers were restricted to 163 for seven, the Capitals just needed to bat with common sense but it was a rare commodity in their frontline batters on the night.

But player of the match KL Rahul, whose knock came off 53 balls with seven fours and six sixes, added 111 runs for the fourth wicket with an equally level-headed Tristan Stubbs (38 not out) to score their fourth victory on the bounce.

DC made 169 for four.

Rahul’s innings was a prime example of risk management as he started at a slower tempo before shifting the gears seamlessly.

The way Rahul, who was dropped on five by Rajat Patidar off Yash Dayal, dealt with leg-spinner Suyansh Sharma and pacer Josh Hazlewood underlined his intelligent approach.

He was prudent against Suyansh, waiting for his chances to score runs on a sluggish track and carted him for a lone six — a sweep over mid-wicket.

But once Hazlewood returned for his second spell, Rahul used the extra pace to good effect to manufacture big shots such as a scorching six over the bowlers’ head.

Stubbs too joined his partners with a couple of lovely straight hits off Bhuvneshwar to the fence as DC strolled home.

However, they had a horror start to the chase as Faf du Plessis, who came back for this match after missing the game against Chennai Super Kings with a niggle, skied Dayal for Rajat Patidar to complete a fine catch.

The mode of dismissal echoed twice soon as Jake-Fraser McGurk and Abhishek Porel walked back to the shed in the same manner.

The visitors were in a quagmire at 30 for three well inside the Power Play, which they eventually finished at 39 for three.

Rahul and captain Axar Patel (15) added 28 runs for the fourth wicket, and the DC innings seemed to have gotten back on the track.

But Axar’s attempt to find the boundary over covers off Suyansh could not progress beyond the running-in Tim David.

However, that was the last of the blips in the DC innings as Rahul marked their triumph with a six off Dayal which he celebrated with a sword-on-the-ground celebration.

The wizardry of spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam helped Delhi Capitals stage a stirring comeback to restrict Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a below-par 163 for seven in the IPL match in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (2/17) and leg-spinner Nigam (2/18) adjusted their lengths beautifully on a pitch that had a touch of sluggishness to drag RCB innings into a marshy pit after the Capitals chose to bowl first.

But Delhi’s decision to field looked utterly obtuse as Royal Challengers went off the blocks like a galloping horse, going past the 50-run mark in just three overs.

Central to that charge was opener Phil Salt’s turbo-charged innings of 37 off 17 balls.

The England batter hammered Mitchell Starc for a sequence of 6, 4, 4, 4, 6 to collect 24 runs in the third over.

However, Salt got run out in a yes-no situation involving Virat Kohli (22, 14b). Kohli and Salt added 61 runs off 24 balls for the opening stand.

But the introduction of leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam proved a course-altering point.

Nigam gave away just two runs in the fifth over, and pacer Mohit Sharma followed that up with another tidy few balls in the next over.

Pressurised by a series of dot balls, Devdutt Padikkal (1) went for a release shot off Mohit, but it lacked any kinetic energy as Axar Patel completed an easy catch at the edge of the circle.

Kohli, who began to unshackle himself with a six off Nigam over long-on, soon fell to the same bowler while trying to clobber a delivery wide on the off-stump.

Thereafter, the home side lost the wickets of Jitesh Sharma (4) and Liam Livingstone (3) in quick succession as they slipped to 102 for five in the 13th over, a far cry from the start they had.

In fact, the hosts lost five wickets for a mere 41 runs in just over eight overs, as DC bowlers exploited a hint grip on the surface to telling effect.

The passage between overs 6th and 13th also saw RCB batters managing just two fours and a six.

However, The RCB camp might have harboured some hopes of reaching a much more competitive total through skipper Rajat Patidar, who played a couple of delectable shots.

But Kuldeep’s skidder ended Patidar’s stay (25) as stumper KL Rahul safely held the ball which almost touched the moon and came back.

Tim David (37 not out, 20b) played a few customary beefy shots in the death overs but it came a wee bit late as RCB’s innings ended on a sad note of what could have been.

Sai Sudharsan’s classy fifty combined with a collective bowling effort powered Gujarat Titans to a commanding 58-run win over Rajasthan Royals in their IPL 2025 match in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Sudharsan lit up the evening with a dazzling 53-ball 82, while explosive cameos from Jos Buttler (36), Shahrukh Khan (36), and Rahul Tewatia (24) propelled GT to a formidable 217/6 after they were put into bat.

The GT bowlers then kept chipping away, striking at regular intervals to keep Rajasthan on the back foot despite fighting knocks from Shimron Hetmyer (52) and skipper Sanju Samson (41).

Royals were eventually bowled out for 159 in 19.1 overs.

Gujarat Titans win their fourth match in a row to jump to the top of the standings with eight points from five games, while Royals are seventh with four points from five games.

Sudharsan was in sublime touch, effortlessly finding gaps and punishing anything loose. His fluent knock, laced with eight boundaries and three sixes, formed the bedrock of GT’s imposing total.

Defending 217, pacers Mohammed Siraj (1/30) and Arshad Khan (1/19) struck early to give GT the perfect start.

Arshad drew first blood, removing the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal (6) who slashed at a wide one and picked out Rashid Khan at deep point.

In the very next over, Nitish Rana (1) attempted an upper-cut off Siraj but met the same fate, guiding it straight to the fielder at thirdman.

But Samson and Riyan Parag (26) launched a fiery counterattack. Parag smoked three no-look sixes, while Samson dispatched anything loose to the boundary with casual ease, taking RR to 57/2 in the Powerplay.

The momentum swung again as Impact Sub Kulwant Khejroliya (1/29) had Parag caught by Buttler, before Rashid Khan removed Dhruv Jurel (5) to leave Rajasthan tottering at 68/4.

Samson and Hetmyer added 48 runs to keep hopes alive, but Prasidh Krishna (3/24) dealt the killer blow.

He first dismissed Samson as the wicketkeeper tried to steer one behind square but only managed to skew it high towards Sai Kishore, who held on calmly at the edge of the circle.

Krishna then returned to snare Hetmyer to finish off RR’s hopes.

Earlier, after leaking plenty of runs initially in the IPL, Jofra Archer (1/30) is well and truly back to his best.

With the new ball in hand, he cranked it up to 152.3 kph in his first over, then returned in his second to clean up Shubman Gill (2) with a steaming 147.7 kph inswinger that beat the inside edge and crashed into Gill’s off stump.

Archer then greeted Jos Buttler (36) with a sharp bouncer, but the former England captain responded a couple of balls later with a crisp four to the deep-cover boundary.

With Sudharsan taking charge, Buttler joined the party with back-to-back boundaries off Fazalhaq Farooqi (0/38) in the seventh over.

In the next over, he sliced Maheesh Theekshana (2/54) through the off side for a four, before lofting him straight down the ground for another boundary.

But Theekshana had the last laugh, trapping Buttler leg-before, ending an 80-run partnership.

Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson immediately turned back to Archer in a bid to stem the flow of runs, and the Barbados-born pacer repaid the faith with a tight over that went for just six.

But Shahrukh Khan (36 off 20) exploded into action in the very next over, slamming consecutive boundaries before muscling one over deep extra cover to inject some much needed momentum into the GT innings.

The boundaries kept coming as Shahrukh went after Theekshana in the 14th over that yielded 16 runs.

Royals responded by striking twice in quick succession, removing Shahrukh and Sherfane Rutherford (7) to pull things back.

Sudharsan was handed a lifeline on 81 but couldn’t make much of the reprieve, as Tushar Deshpande had him caught behind after he got an inside edge off a full delivery.