Picture : BCCI
Kolkata Knight Riders beat Punjab Kings by five wickets in thrilling TataIPL2023 encounter to keep their IPL play-off hopes alive. Once again for KKR it was Rinku who kept his nerves to hit the winning runs .
KKr came out with fine- all- round show with skipper Nitish Rana’s half-century and Andre Russell adding muscle to the chase of 180 enabled Rinku to finish off the game with a 10-ball-21 not out.
Earlier, Varun Chakravarthy once again brilliantly spearheaded their bowling department to grab 3/26 as KKR put up a tidy bowling show to restrict PBKS to a below-par 179 for seven after the visitors opted to bat on a slow wicket.
Chakravarthy removed Punjab’s in-form duo of Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma that broke their back in the middle overs.
Livingstone was looking at his destructive best, smashing Andre Russell for three fours in the fifth over.
Looking dangerous in his nine-ball 15, Livingstone was squared up by a perfect fast leg-break from Chakravarthy to be trapped plumb on his back-foot.
With Harshit Rana (3-0-33-2) grabbing two inside the powerplay, KKR had a perfect start inside the powerplay reducing PBKS to 58/3.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (57; 47b) anchored the show in a Virat Kohli-like innings the other day against Delhi Capitals but the lefthander could never take off and was dismissed by KKR skipper Nitish Rana.
Dhawan put together a 53-run partnership with Jitesh Sharma (21).
Rana smartly bowled Chakravarthy once inside the powerplay and then in the 8th, 13th and 17th over as he finished his quota, cleaning up Rishi Dhawan with a wrong one.
Rishi (19; 11b) had his intention clear smashing Chakravarthy for a six in the first ball, but the KKR spinner had the last laugh.
In reply, KKR show batting show was led by Rana’s stellar effort when he promoted himself to No 3 and laid the foundation with a 38-ball 51 (6×4, 1×6).
On a wicket where the odd ball was gripping and batters struggled to find their timing, Rana stitched a crucial fifty-plus stand with Venkatesh Iyer (11) before Andre Russell and Rinku Singh sealed the issue. Earlier Jason Roy scored a quick 38 to put KKR on course .
Needing 56 off 28 balls after Rana became Rahul Chahar’s second victim, Russell went ballistic against Sam Curran smoking him for three sixes in four balls in a 20-run over to change the equation in favour of KKR who needed six off the last over.
But death over specialist Arshdeep Singh, who had six to defend, took it down the wire with four off the first four balls. Arshdeep has often floundered of late failing to nail his yorkers.
There was more drama when Russell was ran out in the penultimate ball as a calm-headed Rinku Singh (21 not out; 10b) once again came to KKR’s rescue sealing the win with a boundary off the last ball.
The duo off Russell and Rinku put together a match-winning 54-run partnership from 26 balls.
KKR Impact Player: Jason Roy replaces Suyash Sharma
PBKS Impact Player: Nathan Ellis replaces Bhanuka Rajapaksa
Match: IPL 2023, 53rd Match
Venue: Kolkata | Date: May 08, 2023
