Raina humiliates KKR

KARACHI: Suresh Raina scored a superb 78 off 39 balls while Murali Vijay hit an even 50 as Chennai Super Kings romped to a nine-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders with 39 balls to spare in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Vijay and Raina shared an unbroken 137- run second-wicket partnership to overhaul Kolkata’s mediocre 139 in only the 14th over. Raina, who is now the third-highest run-scorer in this year’s tournament with 400 runs, hit 11 fours and three sixes while Vijay, who is only 13 runs behind Raina, hit four boundaries and two sixes.

Earlier, Kolkatta succumbed to the off-spin of Ravichandran Ashwin, who grabbed three wickets for only 16 runs while opening the bowling for Chennai. He was aptly supported by Doug Bollinger who grabbed a brace, giving away only 15 runs as Kolkata lost their first four wickets with only 15 on the board. Angelo Mathews (48) and Manoj Tiwary (27) added 73 for the fifth wicket but it was Raina who broke the partnership to ensure Kolkata failed to get too many runs in the final overs. The win propelled Chennai to second place in the eight-team IPL standings while Kolkata’s semi-final hopes have faded given they lie seventh.