After four consecutive defeats, Kolkata Knight Riders finally registered their second victory of the Indian Premier League 2021 with a five-wicket win against Punjab Kings. Chasing a paltry 124, KKR have had a few nervy moments before Rahul Tripathi and Eoin Morgan stitched an important partnership to take the game away from PBKS.
Earlier in the evening, PBKS lost a flurry of wickets in quick succession after a tentative start from KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. Shivam Mavi conceded just 13 runs and got a wicket, while Prasidh Krishna picked up three crucial wickets to restrict Punjab to 123/9.
Mavi magic in the Powerplay
After an uneventful first over, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal took 12 runs from Pat Cummins’ first over. Mayank’s top edge sailed over first slip while Rahul's back-foot punch raced to the rope. On either side of Cummins’ over, Shivam Mavi was probing in his spell. He conceded just seven runs from the first two overs.
While Narine replaced Cummins, Mavi bowled unchanged at the other end. He finally got his reward in the last over when Chris Gayle edged one to Dinesh Karthik, who was quick to persuade his skipper for a review after the umpire deemed Gayle not out. There were no freebies on the offer from Mavi and he returned with parsimonious figures of 1-13.
Cummins reaped the rich reward of KL Rahul’s wicket when the latter tried to break free after playing four dots off Mavi in the previous over.
Yet another collapse
Prasidh Krishna struck in his first over when Deepak Hooda’s powerful punch died just in front of Morgan, who did well to get his hand underneath it. It was another sluggish start from PBKS as they lost three wickets for a meagre 44 runs in eight overs.
As has been the case with PBKS so far, none from the middle-order has stood up to the occasion. Mayank tried to prolong his stay by adopting a more conservative approach, but he was undone by Narine. Mayank played 34 balls to aggregate 31 runs with a four and two sixes.
Narine got his second wicket in the next over with a regular off-break that spun just enough to pass through a big gap between Moises Henriques’ bat and pad.
Jordan adds a finishing touch
Nicholas Pooran (19 off 19), playing for his spot after getting three ducks in four attempts, saw off the initial phase. Then he upped his tempo. He launched a six over long-off and a four off Varun Chakravarthy in the 13th over, but could not carry on with his onslaught as Varun came back to bowl him through the gates to reduce PBKS to 79/6.
Chris Jordan (30 off 18), who came in for Fabian Allen, got off the mark with an emphatic pull, and followed it with a massive six over the fine leg in the penultimate over. He added two more sixes in space of three balls in the last over before getting bowled. Prasidh took the pace off and Jordan missed while going for another swing. In the end, PBKS could only manage 123/9.
KKR top-order falters again
Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana crumbled inside the first ten balls. Narine, the next batsman, too followed them in the dugout after getting out for a duck. Between them, the three men added just nine runs. Rana’s dismissal came off an innocuous, juicy full toss that should have been whacked away with disdain. Instead, he played straight to Shahrukh Khan at the cover.
By the end of three overs, Kolkata found themselves in choppy waters, losing three batters for 17. Morgan (47 not out off 40) and Rahul Tripathi (41 off 32) then not only steadied the ship but also ensured that they did not fall too much behind the asking rate.
The Morgan-Tripathi counterpunch
Morgan, after playing three dots, smoked a shortish delivery from Mohammad Shami over deep square-leg. He finished the over with an exquisite lift over cover. He stuck to his philosophy where counterattack has always been the best response to setbacks.
Tripathi adopted the same approach at the other end. He, too, kept clearing the fence to deflate the newfound optimism of the Punjabs attack that has brewed after early wickets. He looked vibrant from the word go, picked up his first boundary with a cheeky slice over short third man, and added two more when Arshdeep Singh came on to bowl his next over.
Morgan and Tripathi added 66 runs for the fourth-wicket stand before the latter holed out to Shahrukh at long-on. In all, Tripathi hit seven fours. At this point, KKR needed 41 runs in nine overs.
With 22 needed in the last five, Morgan drove through extra cover and cleared the fence off Hooda. Karthik brought the winning runs with an emphatic pull as KKR chased down the target with 20 balls remaining.
Brief Scores:
Punjab Kings 123/9 in 20 overs (Mayank Agarwal 31; Prasidh Krishna 3-30) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 126/5 in 16.4 overs (Eoin Morgan 47; Moises Henriques 1-5) by 5 wickets and 20 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Eoin Morgan.