K‘night’ dawns on Kings
Kolkata chokes Punjab at the death to earn a miraculous win
ABU DHABI: Sunil Narine and Prasidh Krishna displayed ice-cool temperament at the death as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) earned a stunning two-run victory over a self-destructive Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Saturday.
Dinesh Karthik’s side pulled off yet another Houdini Act after it was seemingly down and out when KXIP opening pair of KL Rahul (74) and Mayank Agawal (56) put on 115 runs in 14.2 overs while chasing 165. But in the end, Kings XI made a mess of its run chase to suffer its sixth defeat from seven matches while KKR notched up its fourth win in six games.
KXIP needed 22 runs from the final three overs, but the match turned on its head in the 18th over. Nicholas Pooran (16) was bowled by Narine, who conceded just two runs. Kings XI lost two wickets in the space of three balls, including that of Rahul, in the penultimate over bowled by pacer Prasidh.
KXIP required 14 runs from the final over and six off the last delivery to take the game to a ‘Super Over’. But, Glenn Maxwell could only score a boundary. Earlier, Rahul and Agarwal avoided taking undue risk while getting the odd boundaries. KXIP was 47 for no loss after the powerplay overs, with Pat Cummins bowling three of them.
Rahul was dropped by Andre Russell off the bowling of Prasidh in the second over when he was on two. Russell hurt himself while fielding, but returned in the 11th over only to leave again in the 13th. KXIP was 76 for no loss at the half-way mark and the duo kept on getting the ones and twos without much trouble.
KKR finally got the breakthrough with Agarwal holing out to Subhman Gill in the 15th over. After that, new man in Pooran went for an unnecessary shot that led to his and KXIP’s downfall. Opting to bat, a counter-attacking 58 runs off just 29 balls by skipper Karthik and opener Gill’s 57-run knock helped KKR post 164 for six.
KKR was struggling at 63 for three in the 11th over, but Karthik changed the complexion of the innings with a magnificent knock, which included eight fours and two sixes. The KKR captain, who was run out in the last ball of the innings, scored his fifty off just 22 balls.
Young opener Gill contributed a 47-ball 57, an innings that had five fours. The 82-run stand between Karthik and Gill for the fourth wicket was the cornerstone of the KKR innings on a slow and difficult pitch.
BRIEF SCORES: Kolkata Knight Riders 164 for 6 in 20 overs (D Karthik 58, S Gill 57) bt Kings XI Punjab 162 for 5 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 74, M Agarwal 56, P Krishna 3/29, S Narine 2/28)