Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Prasidh Krishna bowls against Kings XI Punjab in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. - BCCI/IPL
Dubai - They nick a two-run victory as Kings XI Punjab suffer fifth straight loss
Published: Sat 10 Oct 2020, 6:50 PM
Last updated: Sat 10 Oct 2020, 9:57 PM
Millimetres. That was the finest of margins by which Kings XI Punjab hurtled to their fifth straight defeat as the Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off yet another heist in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night.
A long-awaited victory, since September 24, had been written all over it for Kings XI Punjab, but having put in the hard yards, they fell just short of the winning line at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
And talking off fine margins, the Knight Riders nicked this one by two runs for their fourth victory, while Kings XI Punjab's sixth loss left them rooted at the bottom of the table.
Kings XI Punjab had required 20 from 12 deliveries and the equation was down to 14 from the last over.
Glenn Maxwell reverse hit Narine for a boundary to bring it down to eight required off three balls. But Mandeep Singh fell for a duck to leave them with seven needed from the last ball. Maxwell heaved it over cover in the hope of a six to tie the match and take it to the Super Over. But it was not to be though as the ball fell agonisingly short and a boundary was all that they could get.
It shouldn't have come to that in the first place after captain KL Rahul and his partner Mayank Agarwal had come up with half-centuries and a century opening stand. But Bangalore pacer Prasidh Krishna's three scalps and Sunil Narine's two wickets saw them flounder.
The Bangalore pair of Rahul and Agarwal put their head down and weaved together a solid foundation to get them out of the rut they had gotten themselves into in their previous games.
Rahul, who was dropped on two by Andre Russell, went on to anchor the Kings XI Punjab innings with a well-crafted 74 from 58 deliveries which had six boundaries, his third half-century of the season and the 19th of his IPL career.
Agarwal, meanwhile, scored 56 from 39 balls, his second fifty and seventh overall.
"I have no answers," Rahul said at the post-match presentation.
"We just need to keep coming harder in the next seven games. We bowled really really well. This was a fresh strip so we didn't know what were good lines and lengths. And the bowlers adjusted really well. And they were brave at the death too. Don't think we were satisfied at any stage in the chase. You are satisfied only when you win the game. Towards the end, we kept losing wickets, and couldn't get us over the line," he added.
"The way Rahul and Mayank batted, we thought we needed to do something really special to come back into the game," said opposite number Dinesh Karthik.
Earlier, Karthik and the young Gill came up with half-centuries as the Kolkata Knight Riders recovered from a shaky start to post what had looked like a par score.
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.
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.
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 for KKR, 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) beat Kings XI Punjab: 162-5 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 74, Mayank Agarwal 56, Glenn Maxwell 10 not out, Prasidh Krishna 3-29, Sunil Narine 2-28) by 2 runs.
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
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