Rahul, Pooran smash Kings XI to victory

KL Rahul and West Indian Nicholas Pooran smashed the Kings XI Punjab to a resounding six-wicket victory against the Chennai Super Kings in their final IPL league match at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Sunday afternoon.

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Chasing 171 for victory opener Rahul was in unstoppable form during an innings of 71 from just 36 balls with seven fours and five sixes while left-hander Pooran blasted 36 from only 22 deliveries with a couple of fours and three huge sixes.

Oh yes, boy ????#KXIPvCSK pic.twitter.com/UsyeHVTdGH

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 5, 2019

Veteran offspinner Harbhajan Singh claimed three of the four wickets to fall but at an eye-watering cost of 57 runs.

Earlier, Faf du Plessis made his career best IPL score of 96 to lead the Super Kings to a total of 170 for five.

The South African captain was in sublime form, striking 10 fours and four sixes from just 55 deliveries and seemed to certain to post his maiden IPL century until a leg stump yorker from left-armer Sam Curran ricoched off his pads onto the stumps.

Shami's 2 final over wickets helped restrict @ChennaiIPL to 170/5 after @faf1307 timed a sweet and watchable 96 ??#KXIPvCSK pic.twitter.com/lFQgVUBvB2

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 5, 2019

Curran earlier bowled Du Plessis's fellow opener Shane Watson for just seven from 11 balls before adding the wicket of Suresh Raina for 53 from 38 balls (5x4, 2x6).

Curran posted fine leg inside the fielding circle and then surprisingly bowled a leg-side bouncer which Raina pulled straight to the fielder.

Du Plessis departed with just eight deliveries of the innings remaining and Mohammed Shami bowled a brilliant final over to take two wickets and concede just five runs as the innings last all momentum.

The final three overs – bowled by Shami, Curran and captain Ravi Ashwin – went for just 20 runs.

The Super Kings are now guaranteed a top-two finish but the Kings XI, despite moving to 12 points and level with Sunrisers Hyderabad in fourth place, had no chance of reaching the playoffs due to vastly inferior net run rate.

KINGS XI PUNJAB: Chris Gayle, Lokesh Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Mandeep Singh, Sam Curran, Harpreet Brar, Ravichandran Ashwin (capt), Andrew Tye, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami.

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir