KKR skipper Nitish Rana fined for maintaining slow over-rate against CSK

CHENNAI: Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Nitish Rana has been fined for maintaining a slow overrate against Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Sunday.

KKR clinched a 6-wicket victory to keep their hopes of making it into the playoffs alive. They restricted CSK to a score of 144/6 in the first innings. This was the second time KKR maintained a slow overrate in IPL 2023.

Due to this Rana has been fined Rs 24 lakh and the rest of the playing eleven including impact substitutes have been fined as well.

"Kolkata Knight Riders Captain Nitish Rana has been fined after his team maintained a slow over-rate during their Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Chennai Super Kings at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on May 14, 2023."

"As it was his team's second offence of the season under the IPL's Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Mr Rana has been fined Rs. 24 lakh and each member of the Playing XI, including the impact substitute, is fined Rs. 6 lakh or 25 per cent of the match fee, whichever is lesser,"according to the IPL official statement on Monday.

CSK opted to bat first and were restricted to 144/6 in their 20 overs. Solid knocks came from Shivam Dube (48* in 34 balls), Devon Conway (30 in 28 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (20). There was a 68-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Dube and Jadeja.

Sunil Narine was the pick of the bowlers for KKR, taking 2/15 in his four overs. Spinner Varun Chakravarthy (2/36) also got a couple of wickets. Vaibhav Arora and Shardul Thakur got a wicket each.

In the chase of 145, KKR at one stage was 33/3. Then a 99-run stand between skipper Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh brought KKR back into the game.

Nitish slammed an unbeaten 57 in 44 balls, consisting of six fours and a six while Rinku scored 54 off 43 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes. KKR chased down the total in 18.3 overs with six wickets in hand. Deepak Chahar (3/27) was the pick of the bowlers for CSK and did initial damage to KKR's top order.

CSK is in the second position with seven wins, five losses and one no result. They have a total of 15 points. KKR is at seventh with six wins, seven losses and 12 points in total. Rinku was given the 'Player of the Match' for his fifty.