Kolkata Knight Riders came tantalisingly close to make it a hat-trick of wins in the ongoing second leg of IPL 2021 but lost off the last ball against Chennai Super Kings at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The Super Kings would be thankful to Ravindra Jadeja, whose all-round skills made a big impact in the game. Jadeja kept his nerves during a tense chase and even though he could not stay till the end, he did enough for the Super Kings to eke out a two-wicket win.

The Knight Riders won the toss and posted a challenging total of 171/6 on a slow wicket. The equation became tougher and tougher for the Super Kings when they required 24 off the last 10 balls during their chase. Both Jadeja and Sam Curran, who replaced Dwayne Bravo, were new at the crease.

But just when it mattered, Jadeja, the batsman, brought out his A game, clobbering Prasidh Krishna for two maximums and as many boundaries in the 19th over, leaving the Super Kings with only four to get off the final over.

The left-hander couldn’t get the winning runs as a wily Sunil Narine used all his craft to trap him lbw and take the game till the last ball. But Jadeja’s cameo (22 off eight balls) gave the Super Kings the momentum they needed.

It was the Super Kings’ third win on the trot since IPL 2021’s resumption and it took them back to the top of the standings with 16 points from 10 matches. Like the second-placed Delhi Capitals, they too are a win away from securing a playoffs berth.

Eoin Morgan and his men kept fighting their way back in the game but it wasn’t their day.

Opener Venkatesh Iyer and No. 3 Rahul Tripathi did well again to lay the platform for the Knight Riders in the Powerplay. But they seemed to be losing the plot with Tripathi, captain Morgan and Andre Russell departing without making any sizeable contribution.

However, Nitish Rana (37 not out) and Dinesh Karthik (26) hammered 44 off the last three overs to ensure they posted a competitive total.

In reply, openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (40) and Faf du Plessis (43) timed and placed the ball wonderfully well, helping the Super Kings race to 74/0 in the ninth over.

The Knight Riders’ bowlers had their tasks cut out, but spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Narine brought their team back in the game with vital strikes and some quiet overs, till Jadeja’s assault on Prasidh, who couldn’t quite hold his nerves at that point.

The Knights badly missed Russell, who was supposed to bowl the penultimate over if not for his hamstring injury that kept him out of the field for the last three-and-a-half overs.

It was Russell who got one to bounce a bit awkwardly to give his team the breakthrough by accounting for the dangerous-looking Gaikwad.

That awkward bounce, which Russell is capable of generating, could well have troubled Jadeja as well.