Match Review

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To me, the turning point of the game was the 18th over, bowled by Sheldon Cottrell, in the chase right after a brilliant over delivered by Mohammad Shami. As KKR lost their sixth wicket in the 17th over, suddenly the pressure was on them. However, Siddesh Lad and Andre Russell were able to garner 16 runs by smashing Cotrell and, hence, turned the tables.

Highs and Lows 

According to me, the low of this game was Chris Gayle’s underperformance despite a target of 186 to chase. Gayle (2 off 2) was Kolkata’s first victim as he was shown off by Pat Cummins in the very first delivery of his spell. Following Gayle’s dismissal in the first over of Punjab’s innings, it was the captain who took responsibility for his side. 

Rating Charts

At the end of the Powerplay, Kings XI Punjab had added 45 runs on the board while losing three wickets. After dismissing Gayle in the first over, Cummins came back and bagged the wicket of Agarwal in the third. However, KL Rahul and Glenn Maxwell were strongly bent on accelerating the innings and the fifth over bowled by Narine added 10 runs. However, Cummins came back to bowl his third over, conceding only four runs, and removed Maxwell(18 off 16) on the final ball. At the end of the Powerplay, KXIP’s total on the scoreboard read 45/3. 

On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders made a great recovery after losing Narine in the first over of the chase. With Gill taking charge, Rana showcased some occasional hitting and punished Mujeeb on a hue scale as they squeezed out 20 runs in the 6th over. At the end of the Powerplay, KKR were on 50/1, while chasing a target of 186. 

Punjab were left on a shaky position at 45/3, at the end of the Powerplay, but the middle overs started off a full-fledged recovery. With Nicholas Pooran joining a set Rahul in the middle, the hosts planted 21 runs off Kuldeep Yadav. The innings had already shown some promise against spinners and it continued with the massive over. In between, Narine and Russell did contain some runs but the latter was hit for 17 runs in the 12th over. In the 13th over, bowled by Siddesh Lad, Punjab squeezed out 16 runs with Rahul reaching his fifty by hitting a six. However, Narine helped Kolkata make some recovery and removed Pooran and Sarfaraz in the same over. At the end of the 15th over, Punjab’s total was 135/5 with Rahul still in his best form, unswayed by the fall of wickets.

Following a promising show in the Powerplay, KKR had another setback as they lost Rana in the seventh over, bowled by Krishnappa Gowtham. But following that, Rahul formed a strong partnership with captain Morgan scoring big against every challenge they face. It was finally in the 15th over, bowled by Mohammad Shami, when Punjab found another breakthrough as Morgan was removed from the field and the score at the end of 15 overs was 135/3. KKR still required 51 runs off 30 balls with Gill on 67* off 42  and Dinesh Karthik just having joined him.

It was the batsmen’s day through and through except for the occasional wickets that the pacers bagged, especially Cummins. After being stormed at by Rahul, Kuldeep was able to bowl a decent over as he removed Gowtham in the 16th over and only conceded 7 runs. Following that Punjab had two good overs as Narine and Prasidh Krishna bowled expensive ones. Rahul was also able to put Cummins under pressure in the 19th over, as the Aussie conceded 12 runs. However, Prasidh Krishna added an end to Rahul’s run-fest and removed him when he was on 94 off 55. 

After being smashed left, right, and center in the middle overs, the Punjab bowlers had the task of defending 51 runs off the last 30 balls. Right into the death overs, the hosts enjoyed a decent over by Gowtham as he removed Karthik. But the 17th over, bowled by Shami, turned out to be a blessing for Punjab as Gill was finally removed. However, things changed soon as Cottrell came back in the 18th over and conceded 16 runs leaving just 25 runs to be scored off the final couple of overs. Next, Mujeeb was smashed for 12 runs and Cottrell, bowling the final over, had the task to defend 13 runs but Russell and Lad hit a six each to seal the deal in the first three deliveries. 

Well, it was a well-fought high-scoring competition and almost never one-sided until the final overs of the chase. Despite major efforts from KL Rahul, it was KKR, led by Gill, who took the win in the end. Moreover, Russell and Lad’s last-minute six-hitting was worth an extra point.