Chennai,
Sam Billings played a little gem as Chennai Super Kings once again pulled off a thrilling chase, beating Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets in an IPL encounter here on Tuesday.

Chasing a stiff target of 203, CSK won the match with a ball to spare as Ravindra Jadeja deposited military medium stuff from Vinay Kumar into the stands. The India discard bowled a forgettable final over in which CSK needed 17 runs to win.

This was after Englishman Billings set it up nicely with a magnificent 56 off 23 balls, which included five huge sixes apart from a couple of fours. The pressure put by MS Dhoni’s slow batting (25 off 28 balls) was neutralised by Billings. Chasing a 200-plus target needed a blazing start and veteran Shane Watson was up for the challenge, hitting 42 off 19 balls with three fours and equal number of sixes in a 75-run opening stand with Ambati Rayudu (39 off 26 balls).

Earlier, Andre Russell hit an incredible 11 sixes in his 36-ball 88 to take Kolkata past 200. In one of the finest counter-attacking innings in recent editions of IPL, Russell came in at 89/5 and took the bowling apart with as many as seven sixes being hit off West Indies teammate Dwayne Bravo, including three in an over.