KKR vs PBKS: Kolkata Knight Riders led by Andre Russell and Rinku Singh registered a thrilling win over Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata. Chasing a target of 180 on a difficult Kolkata pitch, the duo of Russell and Rinku helped KKR go home with 5 wickets in the last ball of the game. With this win, KKR have kept their playoff hopes alive to a great extent and have made a big jump in the points table.
The chase was set up well by skipper Nitish Rana and the latter was propelled by Rinku and Russell. 26 runs were needed off 12 balls as Russell and Rinku were in the middle. Russell hit Sam Curran for three sixes as he collected 20 runs in the 19th over to put KKR in the driver’s seat. Arship Singh bowled tight in the final over but he erred in his line and length on the last ball. Arshdeep bowled a juicy full toss on the pads of Rinku and the southpaw smashed it down the leg side for four to score the winning run.
However, it hasn’t been easy for KKR in the final overs. Needing 6 runs off 6 balls, Arshdeep kept Russell away and conceded only 3 runs in the four balls he bowled to him. With 2 runs needed off the last 2 balls, Russell missed his shot and was run out at the non-striker’s end. With 2 runs needed off the last ball, it could have gone either way but Rinku, like he has done in the past, took the team past the boundary.
Earlier Captain Nitish Rana and jason roy Followed by the wicket of Gurbaj. But Roy was dismissed for 38 after stopping in 24 balls. Venkatesh was soon overtaken by Rahul Chahar. Even though Rana also fell victim to Chahar in the 16th over, Russell and Rinku were enough for the win. Russell ended his innings with 42 off 23 balls, while Rinku remained unbeaten on 21 off 10 balls.
Earlier, PBKS managed to score 179 runs on the back of Dhawan’s half-century and contributions from the middle and lower middle order. Dhawan scored 57 off 47 balls, while Jitesh Sharma (21 off 18 balls), Rishi Dhawan (19 off 11 balls), Shah Rukh Khan (21 off 8 balls) and Harpreet Brar (17 off 9 balls) contributed to the PBKS. To a struggling score.
KKR has slipped to 5th position after the win IPL Points table with 10 points from 11 matches. Meanwhile, PBKS with the same number of points in the same number of games but a lower net run rate.