CSK vs KKR IPL 2021 Final Live Updates: Chennai eye fourth title as they take on resurgent Kolkata

IPL 2021, CSK vs KKR Live: MS Dhoni's jubilant Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will eye their fourth IPL trophy when they take on confident Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the summit clash of the IPL 2021 in Dubai. CSK have three titles with five final defeats while KKR have won both their finals under Gautam Gambhir. 

Chennai beat Delhi Capitals by four wickets in Qualifier 1 in Dubai and became the first team to reach IPL 2021 final. [IPL 2021 Dream11 CSK vs KKR Final Today's Predicted XI: Dream11 Predictions, Probable Playing 11]

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23.29 IST: Chennai win by 27 runs against Kolkata, clinch fourth IPL title

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 27 runs to clinch the IPL 2021 title in Dubai. From finishing seventh last year to clinching the title this season -- what a turnaround by Dhoni's men. "We’ll come back stronger, that’s what we are known for," Dhoni had said last season after Chennai's exit. 

Dhoni had previously led Chennai to their maiden IPL title in 2010 before repeating the feat in 2011 and 2018. It was a record ninth final appearance in 12 editions for Chennai, who had three titles under their belt. 

Chennai bowling unit, led by Shardul's three-fer, fired in unison to restrict Kolkata to 165/9 in 20 overs. Earlier, du Plessis' 86 took Chennai to an intimidating 192-run total. 

23.19 IST: Kolkata need 48 off the last two overs. Mathematically possible but the franchise doesn't have firepower in the middle. 

23.05 IST: OUT! Nothing seems to be going in Kolkata's favour. Skipper Morgan's lacklustre IPL 2021 campaign continues as departs after scoring four. Hazlewood picks his second and Chennai are sniffing the fourth IPL title now. 

23.00 IST: WICKET! Kolkata have started to crumble. Tripathi walks back after scoring just two. He had come in to bat despite hamstring struggle. Kolkata 125/7 in 16 overs. 

22.45 IST: OUT! Another wicket! Gill had to try something new and he came up with a paddle sweep off Chahar. Fails to make the contact and up goes the finger. Kolkata have lost four wickets in a jiffy.  

22.35 IST: WICKET! Kolkata lose their third wicket. Narine tries to hit a flat six to deep midwicket but finds Jadeja. Jadeja ain't dropping those. Kolkata 99/3 after 12 overs. 

22.30 IST: OUT! Two blows in the same over Kolkata. Iyer slices it in the air but finds Jadeja. Thakur with the breakthrough and he follows it up by dismissing Rana for a duck. Narine comes to the crease. Kolkata 93/2 after 11 overs.  

22.20 IST: Spidercam cable to the rescue! Gill goes for slogs but picks out Rayudu at deep mid-wicket. Replays, however, show that the ball has clipped the spider cam cable. Gill survives. Kolkata 88/0 after 10 overs. 

22.13 IST: Gill, Iyer foil Gaikwad-du Plessis show 

The Kolkata opening pair has delivered again, perhaps at a time when it mattered the most. The two have notched up 55 runs in the Powerplay in response to the Gaikwad-du Plessis show. Iyer has taken the tournament by storm since his debut in the UAE leg, notching over 350 runs in 10 matches including three fifties. 

Gill, Kolkata's leading run-scorer this season, has also looked in brilliant touch today, helping his side keep a tight rein on the required run rate. This is the first time in seven games when Chennai bowlers have gone wicketless in the first six overs. 

22.05 IST: The Kolkata opening pair has delivered again, perhaps at a time when it mattered the most. The two have notched up 55 runs in the Powerplay in response to the Gaikwad-du Plessis show. Kolkata 55/0 after 6 overs. 

21.50 IST:  A forgettable night for Ferguson

Moeen Ali took Mavi for two sixes over cow corner and down the ground to bring 150 up for Chennai. Lockie Ferguson's horror match continued as Ali went inside-out for a four before Faf du Plessis smacked him for a six and four to complete 19 runs off his final over.

Ferguson finished with figures of 0/56 in his four overs on a night when the Kolkata bowling unit failed to leave a mark. Ali creamed Chakravarthy for a four and a six. But Mavi conceded seven in the final over, including du Plessis holing out to long-off on the final delivery. 

21.40 IST: A thick outside edge and Dhoni drops Iyer! The Kolkata opener slams a maximum on the very next delivery and rubs salt in the wound. Kolkata 15/0 after 2 overs. 

21.30 IST: Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer are at the crease. Chahar will open Chennai's bowling attack. 

21.16 IST: Kolkata need 193 runs to win from 120 balls

Du Plessis headed the innings with his 86 from 59 balls while Gaikwad (32) and Uthappa (31) put up useful knocks to help Chennai reach 192/3 in 20 overs against Kolkata. Moeen Ali also added finishing touches with his quick-fire 37 from 20 deliveries. On the bowling front, Narine picked up two on a night when the Kolkata bowling unit looked ineffective.  

21.00 IST: 19 off Ferguson's over! He finishes off with woeful figures of 0/56 in his four overs. Du Plessis, on the other hand, is inching closer towards his ton. Two overs to go and du Plessis (80*) and Moeen (23*) are in the middle.

20.55 IST: Two sixes for Moeen against Mavi. First dispatches a slower one over cow corner and then smacks one straight down the ground. Chennai 153/2 after 17 overs.

20.40 IST: OUT! Narine strikes again! Uthappa goes for the reverse hit but fails to make contact. Second blow for Chennai but du Plessis (57*) is still at the crease. Moeen Ali is the next man in. Chennai 125/2 after 14 overs.  

20.37 IST: Narine strikes but Du Plessis rebuilds

It seemed like Gaikwad's wicket would open the floodgates for Kolkata but du Plessis has been rock-solid to maintain the run-flow. He dispatched Ferguson's two short deliveries to the boundary rope to show what he's in his bag. The former Proteas skipper has hit his sixth fifty of the season. 

Uthappa, against his former IPL franchise, has also chipped in with a couple of sixes against Shakib, helping Chennai cross the 100-run mark in 12 overs. The two have added 51 runs off 26 deliveries. 

20.22 IST: Du Plessis seems to have found his mojo tonight. Can he do a Watson for Chennai? The South African has notched up his sixth fifty of the season. Chennai 97/1 after 11 overs. 

20.10 IST: WICKET! Narine removes Gaikwad. Gaikwad tries to clear the long-off boundary but mistimes the shot and picks out Mavi. A simple catch and Narine grabs first wicket of the night. Uthappa joins du Plessis in the middle. Chennai 65/1 after 9 overs. 

20.05 IST: A solid start! Gaikwad and du Plessis have been rock-solid at the top this season and the pair has also turned up in the title clash. They have hit regular boundaries and rotated the strike efficiently to help Chennai post 50/1 in the Powerplay. Ruturaj has continued his rich vein of form to put away bad deliveries. Du Plessis has lent a helping hand at the other end, reaching a slow-moving 27 at the end of sixth over.

 The duo has also become the third Chennai opening combination to notch up a 50-run stand in the IPL finals. Hussey and Vijay had put up 50 for the opening wicket in the 2011 and 2012 final. 

19.53 IST: Gaikwad has dethroned Rahul and is now first in the leading run-scorers list. The Pune opener is also the youngest to grab the Orange Cap. A solid Powerplay for the men in yellow. Chennai 50/0 after 6 overs. 

Most runs in IPL season:

1. 627 Ruturaj Gaikwad *
2. 626 KL Rahul
3. 587 Shikhar Dhawan
4. 557 Faf du Plessis *
5. 513 Glenn Maxwell

19.42 IST: Mavi into the attack and beats Ruturaj twice. Ruturaj with the flat-feet bat swing on both occasions. However, the right-hander gets into the groove by whacking a six and a four off Shakib in the next over. Chennai 22/0 after 3 overs. 

19.34 IST: First boundary of the final. A slider on the middle and leg and Ruturaj pulls it away towards the square of leg-side. Ruturaj is just 18 runs shy of surpassing KL Rahul in the Orange Cap list of this IPL edition. Chennai 6/0 after 1 over. 

19.30 IST: Gaikwad and du Plessis at the crease. Shakib opens Kolkata's bowling attack. 

19.26 IST: MS Dhoni became the first captain to lead his side in 300 T20s during the IPL 2021 final between CSK and KKR.

19.16 IST: KKR head coach Brendon McCullum: "The message has been pretty consistent right throughout - myself, other coaches, captain and senior players - and that's that we are going to go out there and play a slightly more aggressive brand of cricket with bat in hand, try and take wickets with the ball and try and chase the ball hard in the field." 

19.00 IST: Kolkata Knight Riders have won the toss and have opted to field

MS Dhoni - "We are looking to bowl first as well, initially it stops a bit and as the game goes on it settles down and toss is uncontrollable and we are prepared for both. We started T20 in around 2005-06 and most of the games have been franchise cricket and in the last five years there have been a lot of T20 games in international cricket as well."

Eoin Morgan - "We are gonna have a bowl, the wicket looks good and there's some dew around. We are gonna give it everything tonight. We are going with the same team."

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik(w), Eoin Morgan(c), Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy

18.44 IST: "The coach and captain have advised me again like before to go out there and enjoy yourself as well as express yourself," says opener Venkatesh Iyer. 

18.40 IST: PITCH REPORT - "This pitch hasn't been used since game number one (19 September). Chennai put 156 on the board and they defended it. It looks an absolute belter, runs on the board might be just good enough," say Matthew Hayden and Simon Doull on the surface.

18.34 IST: In the only prior playoffs meeting between CSK and KKR, Kolkata had clinched the title in the 2012 edition. This year, Chennai have defeated Kolkata in both league stage fixtures. 

18.23 IST: Head to Head - Chennai have defeated Kolkata in 16 out of the 24 clashes between the two sides.

18.20 IST: The final will also be a contest between KKR's spin trio of Varun Chakravarthy, Shakib Al Hasan, and Sunil Narine and CSK openers Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad.

18.15 IST: KKR openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer have also given their franchise fantastic starts, and Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana have also chipped in with useful cameos. 

18.00 IST: The final match will be played on a better pitch in Dubai in comparison to a slow and sluggish tack of Sharjah.

IPL 2021 Final, CSK vs KKR Preview: Mahendra Singh Dhoni's astute captaincy in canary yellow will be Chennai Super Kings' biggest weapon against a clinical Kolkata Knight Riders, whose troika of top-notch spinners promise to hold the aces in the high-octane Indian Premier League final here on Friday.

If numbers are anything to go by, then CSK, in their astonishing ninth final appearance in 12 editions (they were suspended in two), are certain to start favourites against Kolkata Knight Riders on 'Dussera' day but in terms of trophies, there isn't much of a difference.

Dhoni is a master at manoeuvring resources. An example of it this IPL was his "right-hand man" and a true-blue IPL legend Raina being dropped. The former India player looked distinctly overweight and completely out of touch and the ruthless operator replaced him with Uthappa, who had a big role in winning the game against Delhi Capitals with that resounding start to the chase. [FULL PREVIEW]