Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers staged a late comeback to defeat Kings XI Punjab by two runs in a nail-biting thriller here at Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Saturday.
KXIP collapsed from 149/2 to 158/5 in the last two overs as KKR bowlers made a comeback to clinch the final ball thriller.
KXIP needed 14 runs off the final over but Sunil Narine exceptional bowling performance denied Punjab a much-needed win. In the final ball, Glenn Maxwell smashed a four that almost looked a six as KXIP lost the match by 2 runs.
Chasing 165 runs, KXIP got off to a solid start and smashed 47 runs without losing a wicket in the powerplay. Also, Andre Russell dropped a skier from Rahul giving the KXIP skipper a second chance.
The duo completed the 100-run mark in the 13th over with both Mayank and Rahul smashing their respective half-century as KXIP looked solid in the chase.
KKR got their first breakthrough when Prasidh Krishna dismissed Mayank in the 15th over. With 50 runs still needed, Nicholas Pooran came out to bat and started off from where he had left the other night.
KXIP rushed to 136/1 in 16 overs as the Rahul led-side looked comfortable in the chase. However, in a knick of time, Sunil Narine dismissed Pooran when KXIP needed 21 runs from 16 balls. In the end, KXIP fell three runs short of the target courtesy of some fine bowling by Narine and Prasidh Krishna.
Earlier, after opting to bat first, KKR had a worst possible start as they lost two early wickets. Opener Rahul Tripathi (4) was sent back to the pavilion by pacer Mohammed Shami in the third over while Nitish Rana (2) failed to contribute to the scoreboard.
In the fourth over, a big mix-up between Gill and Rana costed KKR in their second wicket. Both were caught at the same end of the crease.
Eoin Morgan joined Gill in the middle and had a 49-run partnership for the third wicket. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi scalped the third wicket for Punjab. Morgan (24) was trying to go over the short boundary but he was caught at long-on by Glenn Maxwell.
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik and Gill played furiously and added a quick partnership of 82-run from 51 balls. Meanwhile, Gill amassed his sixth IPL half-century.
Andre Russell departed after scoring five runs. In pursuit of two runs, Karthik fell short of his crease and was run-out on the last ball of the innings. He played a knock of 58 runs off 29 balls including two sixes and eight fours.
For Punjab, Shami, Bishnoi, and Arshdeep Singh scalped one wicket each.
Brief scores: KKR 164/6 [Shubman Gill 57, Dinesh Karthik 58, Arshdeep Singh 1-25]beat KXIP 162/5 [KL Rahul 74(58), Mayank Agarwal 56(39), Prasidh Krishna 3-29, Sunil Narine 2-28]
( With inputs from ANI )
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