IPL 2018 Report Card: Shubman Gill, MS Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik top; Andre Russell, Dwayne Bravo flunk

A classy half-century, two blistering 40s and a super tight four-over spell were the major talking points as Kolkata Knight Riders managed to avenge their heart-breaking defeat to Chennai Super Kings earlier in the season with a comfortable win at home. The hosts were on top of their game for majority of the match and ended up as deserved winners. Take a glance at our report card of the players from both teams. [caption id=“attachment_4456125” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] KKR’s Dinesh Karthik shakes hands with CSK’s Dwayne Bravo after their win. Sportzpics[/caption] Shubman Gill - 10/10 Tasked with a huge ask in his first game in the Kolkata top order, 18-year-old Gill showed just why he is so highly rated by playing risk-free cricket and acing the run chase without barely breaking a bead of sweat. He compiled his maiden half-century in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and showcased the importance of rotating strike and putting away bad balls to the fence. MS Dhoni - 10/10 The man of the IPL so far, Dhoni has been a real force to reckon with this season with his less-risk, high-impact approach. He once again took Chennai Super Kings to a respectable score with a 25-ball 43 at a strike rate of 172. Dinesh Karthik - 10/10 The Kolkata captain made some fine decisions in the field and topped it up with a 45 made at a mind-blowing strike rate of 250. His high-impact knock eased the pressure on Gill and helped Kolkata gun down the target with effortless ease. Sunil Narine - 10/10 Compared to his teammates, Narine had figures to rave about as he tied down Chennai’s big-hitters with his mystery balls. The West Indian grabbed the big scalp of Shane Watson and added the wicket of Ambati Rayudu to derail Chennai’s surge. He returned to swing his bat effortlessly and rode his luck on his way to a 20-ball 32. Shane Watson - 9/10 The all-rounder was tested with spin early on but came out with flying colours later. However, he struggled to earn strike from his partners at the other end. Despite being out there for more than 10 overs, Watson was on strike for just 25 balls, but to his credit made runs at a rate of 144. Harbhajan Singh - 9/10 The veteran off-spinner once again sent down a rather tidy spell and put brakes on Kolkata’s scoring rate in the middle of the innings. He broke a budding stand between Rinku Singh and Gill by cleaning up the former. Suresh Raina - 8/10 Though not at his flamboyant best, Raina hung around long enough to create panic in KKR’s think tank. He was gifted some real bad balls at the start of the innings and made them count. Faf du Plessis - 7/10 The South African captain first donned the role of an opener for Chennai Super Kings several years back, and on Thursday night went about showcasing why exactly they should stick with him at the top. Although he was completely befuddled by a Piyush Chawla googly after a bright start, Du Plessis deserves a longer stint at the top. Piyush Chawla - 7/10 The leg-spinner’s googly has been a hard one to pick and Du Plessis found out why when he was comprehensively beaten by him in the final over of powerplay. Chawla added one more to his repertoire late in the night and continued his pretty good season for KKR. Ambati Rayudu - 6/10 No 4 might be a tad too low for Rayudu after he showed how destructive he can be at the top of the batting order. However, he played the perfect second fiddle to Dhoni and helped Chennai reach a defendable score. Shivam Mavi - 6/10 Without really grabbing wickets, Mavi has managed to keep things tidy from his end. With Mitchell Johnson misfiring and Andre Russell not bowling much, Mavi can be called the spearhead of KKR’s pace bowling attack. He pulled off a pretty good catch in the outfield to get rid of Watson. Kuldeep Yadav - 5/10 On a pitch tailor-made for him, Kuldeep struggled to make a real impact. He did prize out the dangerous Raina but was otherwise milked around by Chennai batsmen. KM Asif - 4/10 The CSK seamer impressed with his skiddy pace early on and accounted for the huge scalp of Robin Uthappa. However, after a tidy two-over spell upfront, Asif returned to the attack only to be bludgeoned for three maximums by Gill and Karthik. Rinku Singh - 3/10 The talented Rinku managed to eke out another chance in the Kolkata line-up following Nitish Rana’s injury but failed to make an impact after getting a start. A horrendous shot at a time when he needed to help Gill at the other end works against Rinku. Lungi Ngidi - 2/10 The South African fast bowler was disdainfully hit for two sixes by Chris Lynn in the opening over, and although he made amends by getting rid of Lynn in the same over, he couldn’t bring his economy rate down. Ravindra Jadeja - 2/10 The usually brilliant Jadeja put down two back-to-back dollies at mid-off and the misses ended up costing Chennai Super Kings as Narine, the man he gave two lives to, made a crucial 20-ball 32. Jadeja prized out Narine with the ball later but conceded close to 10 an over in his quota of four overs. Chris Lynn - 2/10 The hard-hitting opener started off with a bang, smashing Ngidi for back-to-back sixes in the opening over but fell to him off the final ball of the first over. Andre Russell - 1/10 The big-hitting Russell wasn’t required with the bat as Gill and Karthik gunned down the target comfortably but finds himself at the bottom of the report card for his costly solitary over with the ball. Dwayne Bravo - 1/10 Even without his nemesis, Russell, coming out to bat, Bravo went for 22 off the 10 balls he bowled. The last few games have been disappointing for the West Indian with the ball. Karn Sharma - 1/10 While being used so sparingly can hurt the ego of most players, in a strong team at the top of the points table, Karn has to look to grab the minimal chances that come his way. He failed to do that on Thursday as he went for 11 runs in his only over. Robin Uthappa - 1/10 Faced with a stiff target, Uthappa was beaten by Asif’s skiddy pace and top-edged a catch to mid-on. Mitchell Johnson - 1/10 That Johnson continues to be in the starting XI despite his mediocre returns remains a complete puzzle. With Tom Curran awaiting chances, this horror show should see Johnson restricted to the bench for the next few games at least. Rating chart: 10-9: Excellent, 8-7: Good, 6-5: Average, 4-3: Poor, 2-1: Very poor