What seemed like a walk in the park for the Chennai Super Kings turned out to be a cliffhanger. And in the end, chasing 158 for victory, Kolkata Knight Riders won the match with six balls to spare.

At 51 for five, however, the defending IPL champions looked down and out. Then came an unlikely hero in the form of all-rounder Andre Russell. He took the game away from Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men. Russell’s first four was streaky — a thick edge that went between the ‘keeper and first slip. After that the big Jamaican just bludgeoned the Chennai bowlers.

Ravindra Jadeja was hit for a couple sixes and a four, Ravichandran Ashwin was dispatched over the wide long-on and Mohit Sharma was clobbered for two sixes and a four in one over. The equation changed rapidly and Kolkata became favourites as Russell made 58 off 25 balls (4X4, 5X6). Ryan ten Doeschate played a perfect support cast with an unbeaten 51 off 41 balls, and together they added 80 runs (45 balls) for the sixth wicket to snatch the win for Kolkata from the jaws of defeat at Hyderabad on Wednesday.

The pyrotechnics were preceded by some umpiring errors, Ashish Nehra’s fantastic bowling and Kolkata’s top order collapse. Suresh Raina has been in sublime form recently in limited-overs cricket and today was no different. His was a combination of dancing feet, a flashing blade, sweet timing and supreme confidence. Then came the lucky break for Kolkata. Narine bowled a top-spinner that hurried off the pitch and struck Raina’s back pad as he tried to play a late cut. The batsman was caught plumb in front but the problem was that Narine’s heel appeared to have landed a few millimetres over the front crease, or at best, right on the line. TV umpire Anil Chaudhary was called in to check the front-foot no ball and for a change, the bowler was given the benefit of doubt! Raina returned for a 24-ball 28 — a very promising innings was nipped in the bud.

Before that, another umpiring howler had cut short Brendon McCullum’s (22, 19 balls) stay at the crease. The Chennai opener attempted a reverse sweep off Yusuf Pathan and gloved the ball. But umpire C Shamshuddin declared a leg-before-wicket decision.

CSK begin well

McCullum and his opening partner Dwayne Smith had started off beautifully after Chennai Super Kings were sent in by Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir. The best thing about the partnership was that they never let the new-ball bowlers, Pat Cummins and Umesh Yadav, settle. There was a half-chance though to start with as Smith slashed a Cummins delivery but Pathan, at first slip, failed to time his jump right. It was a costly mistake as Chennai raced to 27 for no loss after three overs.

Gambhir had to bring in his spinners and Piyush Chawla, after conceding a couple of fours, accounted for Smith in his first over. The batsman, caught behind by Manvinder Bisla, was undone by the extra bounce. Then Narine took charge. A wee bit of luck notwithstanding, it was a fabulous effort with his figures reading: 4-0-9-1. Chawla, too, was impressive with two wickets for 26 runs in his four overs. Together they pegged back Chennai.CSK were 84 for three when Raina was out in the 12th over. In the next 8.2 overs they still managed 73 more, thanks to MS Dhoni’s 20-ball 35 not out, to finish at 157 for four. The skipper had an unbeaten 71-run partnership (7.3 overs) with Dwayne Bravo (28* off 28) for the fifth wicket, but on a good batting surface, the total was below par.

But Kolkata were without their IPL 2014 top-scorer Robin Uthappa, who sat out due to a dodgy knee. A niggle had ruled out Jacques Kallis as well. So the onus was on Gambhir to lead from the front. His first four was a cross-batted heave over mid-wicket but a similar attempt a few balls later landed at Bravo’s throat. Nehra was the bowler. Manish Pandey, the hero of the IPL final, was out next ball, brilliantly caught by Mohit Sharma at mid-on.

Pathan survived the hat-trick ball but got out in the very next over, which was pretty eventful. As Sharma started his run-up, Dhoni stopped him in his tracks and handed the ball to Ishwar Pandey. Umpire Kumar Dharmasena intervened and told the Chennai captain that once in his run-up, a bowler couldn’t be replaced. Dhoni didn’t look happy but Sharma dismissed Pathan with his first ball — caught at first slip by Faf du Plessis. Kolkata slumped to 10 for three and soon it became 21 for four following Bisla’s departure — deceived by a slower delivery from Nehra.