Spirited efficiency from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) helped them to beat Punjab Kings by 5 wickets within the Indian Premier League match right here on the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday night.
With this win, KKR lastly registered a second win of the season after 4 successive defeats.
A spirited bowling efficiency from KKR restricted Punjab Kings to 123/9 of their allotted 20 overs. In reply, skipper Eoin Morgan and Rahul Tripathi led the run-chase and scored unbeaten 47 and 41 runs respectively to place the aspect over the road with 20 balls to spare.
Chasing 124, KKR had a wobbly begin as they three wickets inside the primary three overs. Nitish Rana (0), Shubman Gill (9) and Sunil Narine (0) departed cheaply as Punjab bowlers gave their all to defend the low rating.
But the 66-run stand between Morgan and Tripathi for the fourth wicket depleted any possibilities of a turn-around within the encounter. The duo added runs rapidly and took cost on Punjab bowlers. Deepak Hooda bagged Tripathi within the eleventh over after he had scored 41 runs studded with seven fours.
Andre Russell joined Morgan within the center after Tripathi’s dismissal. Russell’s nine-run stint ended within the fifteenth over as a pointy throw from Arshdeep Singh hit the bottom of the stumps and located him in need of the crease.
Dinesh Karthik got here in to bat at quantity seven. Karthik and Morgan then stitched an unbeaten 28-run match-winning stand. Karthik remained unbeaten on 12 runs whereas Morgan scored not out 47 off 40 together with two sixes and 4 4s.
For KKR, Mohammed Shami, Moises Henriques, Arshdeep and Hooda picked one wicket every.
Earlier, KKR bowlers backed their skipper Eoin Morgan’s resolution of bowling after profitable the toss as they bowled on tight lengths and didn’t give any unfastened balls to Punjab batters to attain freely.
Apart from openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, no different batsman was in a position to sew an honest partnership. Rahul and Mayank gave a gradual begin to the aspect and added 36-run for the opening wicket. Pat Cummins bagged the primary wicket for his aspect as he dismissed Rahul (19) within the sixth over.
Chris Gayle couldn’t dwell as much as the expectation as he was despatched again to the pavilion on a golden duck by Shivam Mavi.
Things didn’t flip good for Punjab as Deepak Hooda (1) too departed cheaply within the eighth over. Nicholas Pooran and Mayank construct an 18-run transient stand for the fourth wicket however Narine broke the partnership. Mayank departed after scoring 31 runs studded with two sixes.
Punjab saved on dropping wickets at common intervals. Moises Henriques (2), Pooran (19), Shahrukh Khan (13), and Ravi Bishnoi (1) failed to depart their mark on the scoreboard.
In the loss of life overs, Chris Jordan’s 30-run knock off 18 balls guided the aspect to a decent whole in the long run.
For KKR, Krishna returned with the figures of 3-30 in his 4 overs whereas Cummins and Narine scalped two wickets every.
Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 123/9 in 20 overs (Mayank Agarwal 31, Chris Jordan 30; Prasidh Krishna 3-30, Sunil Narine 2-22, Pat Cummins 2-31); KKR 126/5 in 16.4 overs (Eoin Morgan 47*, Rahul Tripathi 41; Shami 25-1).
