Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Final - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: Indian Premier League 2021 Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Date & Time: Oct 15, 06:00 PM LOCAL

CSK have beaten KKR in 16 out of the 24 clashes between the two sides. © BCCI

Will there be another year for CSK with Dhoni or not it'll be left for time to tell. for now, CSK are the champions and rightly so! A magnificent story and another season of the IPL comes to an end. Enjoy the moment and celebrate. Thank you for your company tonight. Goodbye and CSK supporters, you're in for a night of celebration! Thank you and goodbye!

Here are the awards for this season:

MoM: Faf du Plessis

Most valuable player of the season: Harshal Patel

Orange cap: Ruturaj Gaikwad - 635 runs in 16 games - 1 hundred, 4 fifties.

Purple cap: Harshal Patel - 32 wickets (joint highest ever in IPL with Dwayne Bravo) in 15 games, one 5-wicket haul, one 4-wicket haul.

Power player of the season: Venkatesh Iyer

Maximum Sixes:KL Rahul - 30 sixes

Game changer of the season: Harshal Patel

Super striker of the season: - Shimron Hetmyer - SR: 168

Catch of the season:Ravi Bishnoi - Narine's catch in Ahmedabad with a full-length dive at deep mid-wicket

Fairplay award:Rajasthan Royals

Emerging player of the season:Ruturaj Gaikwad.

That's that, people!! CSK BEAT KKR by 27 RUNS TO BAG THEIR FOURTH IPL TITLE! There are stories and there's a fairytale and CSK have pulled off an absolute stunner to ensure this squad has had a fairytale end to their run ahead of the mega auction next year. Who knows where they'll be next? It was the perfect way to end the final edition together. Amazing win, and one that they'll be super proud of!

Absolute CHAMPION stuff this from CSK! KKR were cruising at one point with their openers sharing a 91-run stand. From there, they were reduced to 125/8! Can you even believe it? KKR only could manage 165/9! "We'll come back stronger, that's what we are known for," said MS Dhoni after CSK failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time last year. And they did, and how!

It was a team performance to pull this off. Faf du Plessis, who was handed a life early, made KKR pay and powered CSK to 192 with an 86, which was par on the wicket. Dhoni dropped Iyer early and he made them pay as well with a half-century. However, once he fell, it was the beginning of the end for KKR with CSK's bowlers all over the KKR's fragile middle order. Jadeja played a huge role in taking two great catches and picking up both Karthik and Shakib. All single digits from No.3 to No.8 made sure CSK didn't have too much to fret about in the end. Rahul Tripathi's hamstring injury hurt KKR's chances, but that wasn't the only reason. Rana fell for a duck and Morgan's poor run in the tournament didn't help KKR on THE day.

CSK will be extremely pleased with that comeback and why not?! They deserve every bit of this win. They dominated from the beginning and ended on a high. Who knows what would've happened had Rabada bowled that last over instead of Tom Curran in the Qualifier 1, but that's a forgotten story now. Chennai Super Kings are the IPL champions once again and are closing in on Mumbai Indians' 5 titles!

KKR will be disappointed after the start they got, but they should hold their heads high. It was a comeback of sorts from them too, given their 7th standing when the UAE leg began to sealing their spot in the finals. It was a game that could've been theirs, but they'll hold this comeback close to their hearts for another shot next year. Hope you enjoyed this amazing final today. Just in case you forget, this was Dhoni's 300th match as captain.

That's out and KKR have lost their skipper!!!Morgan holes out in the deep and Chahar takes a great catch. Over the boundary and back in!! 8 down are KKR! That's the last of KKR's specialist batsmen. We're into the bowlers now.

Chahar the powerplay enforcer needs to be back he needs a wicket or 2 early on as kkr have a fragile middle order

Csk have the depth ad well as the ability to score big runs at the death but that does not mean that they play slow in the middle overs and rely on ms jaddu and 1 set batter to take them through thy need to keep rotating strike consistently

, 3 of those occasions have come against Kolkata Knight Riders.

151 9

After a slow start, CSK have picked up the ante with a few boundaries.

Oops! How costly will that be?DK misses a stumping chance. Du Plessis comes down the track but Karthik can't get hold of the ball.

We're minutes away from the big final. Shakib will start for KKR.

TOSS: Morgan wins toss, KKR will bowl first, as expected. No changes for CSK as well. Just in case you guys want to know: KKR have won 6 out of 6 chasing in the UAE.

Pitch report from Dubai! "Cracking wicket," says Matt Hayden. But statistically, the chasers are the winners. 9 of the 12 fixtures in Dubai have been won by the chasing side this season. However, one team has to bat first...belter of a wicket that has runs.

Build up:

The Indian Premier League had begun in its usual window earlier in the year amidst all the uncertainity that COVID had brought with it. Yet, we had a good first-half of the tournament. Despite all the bubbles and the protocols enforced due to COVID, there was a breach with positive cases being reported in a number of franchises which caused the tournament to be postponed.

Here we are five months after that whole saga for the final of the 13th edition where the Chennai Super Kings are up against Kolkata Knight Riders. What a ride it's been for the latter, who were 7th on the table when the UAE leg kicked off. They made a remarkable comeback, with 5 wins in 7 games and overcame Delhi Capitals in the Qualifier 2 to reserve their berth in the final. All that, without the might of Andre Russell, who's been out with injury. Much of KKR's success came at Sharjah and moving to Dubai for the final will make a difference as opposed to the familiarity they had at the smaller ground.

CSK made a superb start to the UAE leg with four wins on the trot, before slipping to three losses in their remaining games. However, in the game that mattered most, they beat Delhi Capitals to power through into the finals with glimpses of Dhoni of the old who smashed a 6-ball 18 to take them over the line.

Both teams finished in the bottom-half last year, and have made superb comebacks respectively to be in the final. Although CSK have been in more finals, KKR have never lost one. Can they halt their amazing run in UAE to bag their fourth IPL title?

P.S: This is Dhoni's 300th match as a T20 captain!!

Toss, teams, pitch report and more...coming up!