Russell-Rinku Duo Help KKR Steal Last-Ball Thriller At The Iconic Eden Gardens
Rinku Singh celebrating victory against PBKS (AP Photo)
Kolkata Knight Riders: 182/5 in 20 overs [Nitish Rana 51 (38), Andre Russell 42 (23); Rahul Chahar 2/23 (4), Nathan Ellis 1/29 (4)] beat Punjab Kings: 179/7 in 20 overs [Shikhar Dhawan 57 (47), Shahrukh Khan 21 (8)]; Varun Chakaravarthy 3/26 (4), Harshit Rana 2/33 (3)] by 5 wickets.
The 53rd game of IPL 2023 turned out to be another cracker of a game as KKR pulled off a last-ball win in a dramatic run-chase against Punjab Kings. The momentum of the game turned from one side to another throughout the match but in the end, KKR managed to bag those two crucial points.
Punjab Kings Manage Par Score Despite Chakaravarthy Magic
Punjab Kings elected to bat first in a hope that the pitch will get difficult to bat on later in the game. Shikhar Dhawan also led from the front and compiled a cautious fifty to held one end up as Punjab lost wickets from the other end. Harshit Rana was the one who picked two wickets with the new ball and then Varun Chakaravarthy bowled another brilliant spell. He picked three wickets while giving away just 26 runs in his four overs.
Punjab Kings were restricted to 139-7 at one point in time but Shahrukh Khan (21 off 8 balls) and Harpreet Brar (17 off 9 balls) played handy cameos to take Punjab to 179. It was a stiff target but not an unchaseable one and the stage was set for an interesting chase.
Russell-Rinku-Rana Trio Seal a Tense Chase for KKR
KKR started off the chase brightly with Roy smashing it all around the park. They lost the wicket of Gurbaz in the Powerplay but managed to score 52 important runs in those initial 6 overs to put KKR ahead on a slowish pitch. Brar got rid of Roy in the 8th over and things got even-stevens after that with some tight overs.
However, Rana mixed caution with aggression nicely and kept his team in the chase even though Venkatesh Iyer failed to get going. Rahul Chahar though got both of them but Rana had already taken his team to a decent position with his fifty till then.
Then came Russell-Rinku Duo and KKR got some crucial boundaries to stay in the hunt. However, the turning point of the game, was the penultimate over bowled by Sam Curran. Russell smashed him for three sixes and got 20 in the over. The equation came down to KKR needing just 6 from the final over but Arshdeep Singh displayed some brilliant skills and composure to stretch the game till the final ball. KKR needed 2 off the final ball with Rinku Singh on strike and the dashing left-hander finished things off in style with a boundary putting Punjab Kings in a tricky position on the points table.
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