IPL Final: Faf du Plessis' 86 Helps Chennai Post 192/3 against KKR

Ruturaj Gaikwad finished as the Orange Cap holder.

Faf du Plessis scored a half century in the IPL final vs KKR.

(Photo: BCCI/IPL)

Faf du Plessis' 86 in the 2021 IPL final has helped Chennai Super Kings post a commanding total of 192/3 vs Kolkata Knight Riders in the title match.

Eoin Morgan had won the toss and elected to bowl first in Dubai with both teams fielding unchanged XIs, meaning there was no Andre Russell, who has been nursing an injury, for KKR or even Suresh Raina for CSK.

Chennai's opening partnership of Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad though gave the team the most perfect of starts, racing to 42/0 in 5 overs. Ruturaj got off the mark by taking three boundaries off Shakib Al Hasan's first two overs. Lockie Ferguson came under the attack as Gaikwad and du Plessis took 12 runs off him. Du Plessis then struck a boundary against Shivam Mavi and Varun Chakravarthy to match with Gaikwad's pace.

After scoring 24 runs on the day, Ruturaj also became the leading run-scorer in this edition of the IPL. He surpassed KL Rahul's tally to become the youngest player to claim the Orange Cap for the season.

Eventually it was Narine who ended their partnership as Shivam Mavi took a catch at long-off to end Ruturaj's innings on 32.

Du Plessis broke the spell of 17 singles by carting Al Hasan over long-off before Robin Uthappa slammed him over deep mid-wicket for the second six of the over.

Du Plessis slammed Ferguson for back-to-back fours before ending the over with a six over long-off to reach his half-century in 35 balls. Uthappa (31) made full use of a reprieve from Narine to slam Chakravarthy, followed by Narine, for sixes. But Narine had the last laugh as Uthappa's attempt to reverse sweep ended in a plumb lbw decision.

Moeen Ali took Mavi for two sixes over cow corner and down the ground to bring 150 up for Chennai. Ferguson's horror match continued as Ali went inside-out for a four before du Plessis smacked him for a six and four to complete 19 runs off his final over. Ali creamed Chakravarthy for a four and a six. But Shivam Mavi conceded seven in the final over, including du Plessis holing out to long-off on the final ball, to keep Chennai under 200.