The race for the remaining two playoffs spots in the IPL 2021 has become increasingly intriguing on Friday as after PBKS defeated KKR in match 45. Both sides now have 10 points from 12 matches and will need to win both their games and depend on other results.
Punjab Kings’ Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh and Mohammed Shami did outstanding work with the ball to restrict the Knight Riders to 165/7 on what looked like a good batting wicket. KL Rahul anchored the chase while Mayank Agarwal and Shahrukh Khan made important contributions to chase down the target with three balls to spare.
The Kings won the toss and decided to field first. KKR didn’t get off to a great start as Shubman Gill (7) was cleaned up by an inswinging beauty from Arshdeep Singh. Rahul Tripathi and Venkatesh Iyer continued their superb form to get KKR into a good position.
The duo added 72 runs for the second wicket before Tripathi (34 off 26) holed out in the 12th over off Bishnoi with 90 runs on the board. Iyer scored a magnificent knock of 67 off 49 before he slog-swept Bishnoi to deep midwicket.
Eoin Morgan’s disastrous form continued as he was plumbed by Shami on 2. Nitish Rana played a valuable little cameo of 31 off just 18 before mistiming Arshdeep’s slower ball to deep midwicket. KKR didn’t have a good finish to their innings as they only managed 16 runs off the last 14 balls, with Dinesh Karthik (11 off 11) getting knocked over on the last delivery. For PBKS, Arshdeep returned with 3/31, Bishnoi picked 2/22, and Shami bowled an economical spell of 1/23.
Chasing 166, Mayank played the attacking role while Rahul played his usual role of anchoring the innings. The duo added a 70-run stand in 8.5 overs. Agarwal, who was dropped on 0 by Morgan, was dismissed on 40 off 27, with Morgan not making not making any mistake at cover off Varun Chakravarthy’s bowling. Nicholas Pooran, after smashing Chakravarthy for six on the previous delivery, goes for one more only to slice it to deep backward point.
Needing 81 off 9 overs, Aiden Markram and Rahul added 45 runs in 29 balls for the third wicket. Markram (18 off 16) was dismissed off Sunil Narine when he smashed the bones out of it but straight to deep extra cover. Hooda followed him in the next over, holing out at deep midwicket. 36 needed off 21, Shahrukh Khan hit a couple of boundaries to get the required rate down.
As is the case with PBKS often, the last two overs were dramatic. With 11 needed off 10, Tripathi put in an outstanding effort at deep midwicket, but after countless replays, the third umpire controversially called it in Rahul’s favour. With the equation now 4 off 5, Rahul was dismissed on 67 off 55, at long-off.
On the next delivery, Shahrukh Khan slapped Iyer’s delivery towards deep midwicket, where Tripathi spilt the catch over the boundary rope as Punjab Kings came out victorious.
KL Rahul was awarded the ‘player of the match’ for his knock, while Shahrukh Khan contributed with crucial 22* off 9.
KKR remained at the fourth spot due to their superior net run-rate of 0.302, while PBKS jumped to the fifth spot. Mumbai Indians, who are also on 10 points, slipped to sixth, but they have one more game in the bank.
Brief Scores
Kolkata Knight Riders – 165/7 in 20 overs (Iyer 67, Tripathi 34; Singh 3/31, Bishnoi 2/22)
Punjab Kings – 168/5 in 19.3 overs (KL Rahul 67, Agarwal 40; Chakravarthy 2/24, Mavi 1/31) won by five wickets.
