Both in their game versus Punjab Kings and throughout the competition, Kolkata Knight Riders barely made it. Rinku Singh gave them another last-ball victory, but this wasn’t some incredible resurrection. Even KKR’s hitters laboured on the sluggish surface in this topsy-turvy match that the spinners from that team set up.
The groundwork for the chase was laid by Nitish Rana, who scored 51 runs off of 38, but it took Andre Russell to finally show up and score 20 runs off of Sam Curran’s 19th over. Before Rinku Singh hit the boundary with two runs needed, Arshdeep Singh had managed to keep them at bay till the final ball.
As a result, both KKR and PBKS now have 10 points after 11 games. In the center of the table, five teams are now deadlocked on that number of points, although Tuesday’s opponents Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians both have one game remaining.
The finishing touches
Chahar was dismissed in the 16th over, leaving KKR needing 24 runs off of 51 deliveries. PBKS had to decide whether to bowl four overs of pace or turn to Brar’s left-arm spin. They chose the secure path. Russell smashed a four and Rinku hit a six as Russell bowled out in the 17th but went for 15. Ellis’ statistics of 4-0-29-1 nearly made up for the lack of the additional spinner, but KKR still had the advantage in the match.
However, Curran made a few mistakes in his execution when 26 runs were needed off of two, and Russell climbed in with two sixes over the larger boundary. For good measure, he also hit one over the short side.
Russell attempted to scramble for a bye in an attempt to tie the game off the fifth ball, but Arshdeep played a great last over, stopping him, and then running him out. Arshdeep finally made a mistake off the final ball, and Rinku flicked the full-toss square of fine leg to meet the criteria twice.
Kolkata Knight Riders 182 for 5 (Nitish 51, Russell 42, Roy 38, Chahar 2-23) beat Punjab Kings 179 for 7 (Dhawan 57, Varun 3-26, Harshit 2-33) by five wickets