KINGS IN THE HUNT
— Kings XI Punjab kept their hopes of a playoff berth alive in the Indian Premier League with a 14-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Punjab Cricket Association ground in Mohali on Tuesday night.
Chasing 168 for victory, Kolkata after a strong start from Chris Lynn who top-scored for the Knight Riders with 84, faltered against some superb bowling from Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma and Rahul Tewatia.
Earlier, Glenn Mexwell hit a quickfire 25-ball 44 as Kings XI Punjab scored 167 for 6 after being put in by Gautam Gambhir.
Needing to win to stay afloat in the tournament, Kings XI made a wobbling start after they were being put into bat but made a late recovery to put up a respectable total at the PCA Stadium.
From 63 for 3 at the halfway mark, Kings XI took 104 runs from the final 10 overs.
Kings XI lost wickets at regular intervals as they failed to stitch any big partnership. Their highest partnership was the 61 for the fourth wicket between Maxwell and Wriddhiman Saha (38).
Maxwell, Saha and Manan Vohra (25) got the starts but could not convert them to big scores.
Opener Vohra looked promising with a couple of fours off Sunil Narine at the start of the innings. He then hit two more boundaries off Umesh Yadav to up the ante.
But Yadav had the last laugh as he dismissed Vohra in the fifth over with his short delivery kissing the batsman’s gloves for Robin Uthappa to do the rest behind the stumps.
Next over, Martin Guptill fell LBW to Narine as the batsman missed the delivery while trying to sweep over backward square leg and Kings XI were 41 for 2 then.
The home side were 42 for 2 after the powerplay overs and they were further in trouble as Shaun Marsh (11) departed after a promising start. The Australian played two delectable shots off Colin de Grandhomme, including a straight drive, before he was out with the Kings score on 56 for 3.
Marsh fell to a gem of a delivery off Chris Woakes. It was a full and straight delivery and Marsh played the line only to see it seam back in late to beat the inside edge before crashing into his off stump.
Maxwell came out and he did not do much initially, scoring ones and twos from his first nine balls he faced before taking his chances. He hit two consecutive sixes off de Grandhomme in the 12th over.
There was a comparative lull for a couple of overs before Maxwell cut loose with two consecutive sixes off Kuldeep Yadav in the 16th over. But the same over, Maxwell was sent packing with Woakes taking a superb catch near the boundary by running from long-off.
Maxwell hit one four and four sixes in his 25-ball stay at the crease for his 44.
After the captain’s departure, Wriddhiman Saha was stumped while chasing a wide ball while Swapnil Singh (2) was out while going for a big shot.
For KKR, Woakes (2/20) and Kuldeep Yadav (2/34) were the most successful bowlers while Umesh Yadav and Narine got one apiece.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir made two changes, bringing back Robin Uthappa in place of Sheldon Jackson, while Kuldeep Yadav came in for Piyush Chawla. — PTI