KXIP vs KKR | Meme Report - Chris Lynn and Shubman Gill’s pyrotechnics triumphed over Sam Curran’s heroics to take KKR closer to playoffs

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to bowl first. And Dinesh Karthik’s bowlers did really well to stop the swashbuckling duo of KL Rahul and Chris Gayle to just 19 runs in three overs with Rahul’s dismissal further making things even better for the visitors.

However, with the huge Mohali not being very kind to Gayle’s power hitting, the big man was required to travel more between the wickets that he tried compensate by walking. All the hard work did take toll on him and the southpaw was seen playing a loose shot into Shubman Gill’s hands at deep square leg, which meant that Punjab were limited to just 41 runs in the powerplay.

But, KKR’s early delight was turned into a nightmare by a certain Nicholas Pooran, who along with Mayank Agarwal steadied the ship for the hosts. The blistering southpaw started with Russell, hitting him for 13 runs in the seventh over, before whacking Piyush Chawla for 14 runs in the very next one. And although Sunil Narine halted the onslaught for six balls, Pooran did an encore on Chawla again. Even though he was dismissed by Rana for 48, he had ensured that Punjab was up to pace at 98/3 after 11 overs.  

With Pooran, Punjab’s sting with the bat had also gone as the duo of Mandeep Singh and Mayank Agarwal could add only 24 runs in the next three overs with Mayank’s run-out in the 14th over making things more frustrating in the KXIP camp. The incoming Sam Curran, although starting slow, started going big showing no mercy to any of the KKR bowlers taking the score to 147/4 with three overs to go. Curran looked unstoppable on the night and despite the quick wickets of Mandeep and R. Ashwin, the relentless all-rounder hit 22 runs of Gurney’s last over to not only bring up his maiden fifty but also post a competitive target of 184. 

KKR decided to stick with their hit opening duo of Chris Lynn and Shubman Gill from their previous big win against Mumbai Indians, as they didn’t disappoint the fans despite starting slow by scoring 13 runs in the first two overs. However, Lynn took charge following that and he kept swinging regardless of the bowler showing the stands to all - Arshdeep Singh, R Ashwin, and Andrew Tye -  until Tye eventually got him on the last ball of the powerplay.

With a run rate of over 10 intact in the powerplay overs, KKR decided to lighten the feet from the paddle slightly by introducing Robin Uthappa. However, while the runs weren’t coming as fast as the first six overs, but Uthappa did hit two boundaries and a maximum to keep the asking rate close by before he was sent back to pavilion by KXIP skipper Ravichandran Ashwin. However, there was no respite for KXIP for Russell was the man walking in!

While the stage was perfectly set for Russell to settle in before going about wielding his willow, it was surprisingly Shubman Gill who took his childhood ground by storm by hitting Ashwin for 17 in a over, thereby bringing up his fourth IPL fifty. Though Russell tried turning on the heat in the very next over by hitting two sixes to Tye and one off Shami, he was trapped early this time by the Indian bowler in the 15th over although KKR sat safely at 155/3.     

Though the dangerous man was gone, KKR’s win was only a matter of time now and Dinesh Karthik came on to play a slow and steady innings to finish off things. The duo played off Curran and Tye with with, taking 17 runs off them but hitting only one boundary, which broke KXIP’s spirit more than anything else. The time had come for KKR to seal it and Karthik upped the tempo against Curran by hitting two boundaries and a maximum to seal a much-needed win and coming closer to the playoffs. SRH would be feeling the pressure at Chinnaswamy tomorrow.