Mayank & Rahul’s Fifties Go in Vain as KKR Edge Out With a 2-run Victory
Image: Collected
|| Indian Correspondent ||
Poor run continued for Kings Xi Punjab (KXIP) as they again faced a defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) despite starting the chase in a superb way at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Having won the toss and elected to bat first, KKR got off to a bizarre start. In-form Rahul Tripathi failed to maintain his form and got out for only 4 runs when Mohammed Shami bowled him.
However, Shubman Gill once again proved himself. After the dismissal of Nitish Rana, he steadied the ship with Eoin Morgan. The duo added 49 runs before Morgan was dismissed for 24.
Meanwhile, after disappointing performances in the previous games, the captain Dinesh Karthik showed his class. He came to bat in the 11th over and took his time to settle down in the middle. While Gill scored another fifty (47-ball-57 with five boundaries), Karthik smashed a blistering 58-off-29 including eight fours and two sixes which helped to lift the score to 164.
For Punjab, Shami, Bishnoi impressed alongside Arshdeep Singh, each picking a wicket which came at good economy rates as well.
Chasing a target of 165, the Kings XI Punjab openers duo of Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul got off to a flying start where they added a 115-run partnership. While Mayank ended with 39-ball-56 with six fours and one six, the KXIP captain almost took the side home with a 74-off-58, including six boundaries.
However, things soon changed with the double dismissals in the 19th over, as both KL Rahul and Simran Singh got out. The onus fell upon the out-of-form Glenn Maxwell in the middle to face Sunil Narine in the last few deliveries of the game.
With seven remaining from the final ball, Maxwell smashed it big with the hope of a six so that the game reached the super over. However, the ball dropped and this ended up becoming a boundary. KKR won the game by 2 runs.
Prasidh Krishna claimed three wickets including the Rahul-Mayank duo whereas Narine, whose brilliance in the dead overs made the difference in the game - took two wickets and sealed the deal for KKR.
With eight points, KKR jumped up to the 3rd position in the points table, whereas KXIP stayed at the bottom only.
