IPL 2020: Karthik, Gill take KKR to 164

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Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik (left) and opener Shubman Gill take a run against Kings XI Punjab in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. - BCCI/IPL

Dubai - The captain and opener score half-centuries

By James Jose

Published: Sat 10 Oct 2020, 3:59 PM

Last updated: Sat 10 Oct 2020, 9:02 PM

Captain Dinesh Karthik and the young Shubman Gill came up with half-centuries as the Kolkata Knight Riders recovered from a shaky start to post a par score against Kings XI Punjab in Abu Dhabi on Saturday afternoon.
Karthik, who was in the midst of a lean patch with the bat, struck his first fifty of the season and 19th of all-time, while the 21-year-old Gill scored his second fifty of the edition and sixth of the IPL. That saw the two-time winners post 164 for 6 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Target set! ??

Over to our bowlers! ????#KXIPvKKR #KKRHaiTaiyaar #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/qFxvhovRDg
- KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) October 10, 2020

Karthik scored a 29-ball 58 with eight boundaries and two sixes, while Gill's 57 came from 47 deliveries and had five boundaries.
The Knight Riders had a stuttering beginning after opting to bat with opener Rahul Tripathi, the top scorer in the previous match, castled by Mohammed Shami for four.
The 2012 and 2014 champions were two down for 14 after left-hander Nitish Rana was run out by the Shami-Nicholas Pooran combination.
Gill and Eoin Morgan then put on 49 runs for the third wicket to take them to 63 before the England captain was caught by Glenn Maxwell off Ravi Bishnoi. Morgan made a 23-ball 24 with two fours and a six as he completed 1000 runs in the IPL.
Gill and Karthik joined forces and the pair came up with a crucial stand of 82 runs for the fourth wicket.

B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T ????

Let's do this! ????#SaddaPunjab #IPL2020 #KXIP #KXIPvKKR pic.twitter.com/tZ8A0yzw2E
- Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) October 10, 2020

Gill reached his sixth half-century from 42 deliveries with the help of five boundaries. Karthik, meanwhile, too got to the landmark but their partnership came to an end after Gill was run out by Mandeep Singh and wicketkeeper Prabhsimran Singh.
Andre Russell couldn't give them the impetus as he was caught by Prabhsimran Singh off Arshdeep Singh.
Both teams made two changes with Prasidh Krishna coming in for Shivam Mavi, while Chris Jordan replaced Sheldon Cottrell, who was out with a niggle. That meant there was still no place for the 'Universe Boss' Chris Gayle in the line-up.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 164-6 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 57, Dinesh Karthik 58, Eoin Morgan 24) vs Kings XI Punjab.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahul Tripathi, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik (C) (wk), Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy.
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (C), Mayank Agarwal, Mandeep Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Glenn Maxwell, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Chris Jordan, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh.
james@khaleejtimes.com