MS Dhoni, CSK players take lap of honour at Chepauk Stadium

CHENNAI: Following the conclusion of their set of home matches, after their loss to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) stars took a lap of honour around the Chepauk Stadium to thank the fans for their support.

Crucial fifties from Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana kept KKR's playoffs hope alive as they registered 6 wickets victory over CSK on Sunday.

Batters Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dube, pacers Tushar Deshpande and Deepak Chahar, and skipper MS Dhoni were some of the players seen taking the lap of honour.

They interacted with the fans, took selfies, and even hit some tennis balls into the crowd with racquets. MS Dhoni signed legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar's shirt as well. "Yellove! A special lap of honour filled with memorable moments ft. @msdhoni & Co. and the ever-so-energetic Chepauk crowd #TATAIPL | #CSKvKKR | @ChennaiIPL," tweeted IPL.

In the seven matches played at the venue this year, CSK won four, and lost three. 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.