Sai Kishore spins a web around Shashank and Ashutosh as Punjab Kings crawls to 142
In a high-scoring encounter dotted with heart-stopping moments, Kolkata Knight Riders rode on skipper Shreyas Iyer’s half-century and Andre Russell’s excellent all-round showing to manage an exciting onerun win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League at
It was an all-too-familiar script for Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma stood at the burning deck again, with their team oundering at 86 for ve against Gujarat Titans at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.
Unfortunately for the host, there was no redemption this time as both batters were back in the dugout in a span of three overs, deceived in ight by left-arm spinner R. Sai Kishore, playing only his third game of the season.
While Ashutosh failed to clear the long square boundaries after stepping out, Shashank handed Sai Kishore a simple return catch after giving him the charge.
With the innings tottering at 99 for seven, Punjab was forced to introduce Harpreet Singh Bhatia as Impact Player, and the lefthander added 40 valuable runs with fellow southpaw Harpreet Brar to drag the host to 142.
Earlier, after electing to the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
Inserted on a batterfriendly track, KKR erected 222 before thwarting RCB’s spirited chase to post its fth win. Even in a dierent uniform, RCB suered its sixth straight defeat.
With RCB needing 21 in the last over, Karn Sharma unbelievably punished Mitchell Starc in his sevenball 20 before being dismissed by the Aussie. With three needed o the last ball, wicketkeeper Phil Salt’s spectacular diving bat, Punjab’s top order attered to deceive as Sam Curran and Prabhsimran Singh put on the team’s second 50-run opening partnership of the season but were soon watching the proceedings from the sidelines.
After Prabhsimran skilfully uppercut Mohit Sharma for a six over thirdman, he stepped out next ball only to edge one behind. Rilee Rossouw was trapped leg-before by Noor Ahmad, sweeping the ball after nding the boundary with a reverse-sweep o the previous delivery.
Liam Livingstone ended run out stopped RCB just at the brink.
During RCB’s reply, Harshit Rana surprised Kohli with a high full toss and took a catch. The third umpire found it to be a legal delivery and gave Kohli out to the dismay of the batter.
After Faf du Plessis’ departure, Will Jacks (55) and Rajat Patidar (52) counterattacked. Jacks, who dominated the leg-side, mercilessly clobbered bowlers. Jacks, who scored 22 o a Starc over, formed a 102run association with Patidar, a 19-ball boundary-drought that followed Rossouw’s dismissal with a premeditated paddle sweep but heaved across the line next ball to get an outside edge to rst slip. Jitesh Sharma greeted Sai Kishore into the attack with an imperious six down the ground, but three balls later, his stumps were shattered after he gave the bowler the charge again only for the ball to dip and turn away.
Sai Kishore, Noor and Rashid Khan picked seven wickets between them, transcending seamerfriendly conditions and bamboozling the host.
who eortlessly clubbed the spinners, in 48 balls.
KKR’s lucky mascot Russell provided crucial breakthroughs by accounting for both in the 12th over.
Narine scalped Green and Mahipal Lomror in the next over before KKR bowlers, led by the superb Harshit and Russell, excelled in the death.
Breezy start
Earlier, Salt gave a ne exhibition of clean strokeplay to set up a solid platform for KKR. Salt (48), who hammered 28 o Lockie Ferguson’s rst over, put up a breezy 56-run partnership with Sunil Narine before falling to Mohammad Siraj.
Sensible batting
Yash Dayal dismissed Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi in the sixth over and Cameron Green removed Venkatesh Iyer in the ninth.
Shreyas and Rinku Singh batted sensibly to add 40. 8-139 (Harpreet Brar, 18.6), 9-140 (Harshal, 19.2).
TITANS BOWLING Omarzai 2-0-13-0, Warrier 1-0-21-0, Mohit 4-0-32-2, Rashid 4-0-15-1, Noor 4-0-20-2, Sai Kishore 4-0-33-4, Shahrukh 1-0-7-0; Toss: PBKS.
Shreyas executed his shots smartly on either side as he drove, pulled, reverse-hit and uppercut in his rst fty of the season.
Russell and Ramandeep Singh plundered 36 runs in the last two to take the host past 200 for the fourth time.