Andre Russell and Rinku Singh were incredible as they shepherded Kolkata Knight Riders to a pulsating five-wicket win over Punjab Kings in a last-ball thriller in their Tata India Premier League match at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, on Monday.
KKR reached 182 for five on the last delivery to fend off Arshdeep Singh's valiant effort in the 20th over. PBKS had set them a 180-run target after scoring 179 for seven in their 20 overs. KKR's playoff hopes remain alive after the win over PBKS.
Andre Russell (42 off 23) and Rinku Singh (21 off 10) compiled a brilliant 54-run partnership that revitalised KKR's innings and saw them across the finish line. Russell set the chase in motion by bludgeoning three fours and three sixes but couldn't see the job through, dismissed on the penultimate delivery. The responsibility to finish off the game lay on Rinku's shoulders. The young man did not disappoint and finished it off with a boundary off the last ball.
The two sides' respective captains stood tall in the battle to inch their teams closer to a playoff spot. It proved to be Nitish Rana's day.
Rana was there to pick up the pieces after the dismissals of Jason Roy (38 off 24) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (15 off 12). The pair of Roy and Gurbaz put on 38 off 24 in an electric start on a pitch that was not a belter. Roy was looking good for a third half-century of the season, but that plan was shattered by Harpreet Brar.
After Roy and Gurbaz's dismissals, the PBKS bowlers put the screws on the budding partnership between Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer (11). Iyer did not look comfortable in the middle and was taken out of his misery by Rahul Chahar in the 14th over. However, all was not lost as Rana found his stride and worked his way to a brilliant 17th IPL half-century, his second of the season. It came off 37 balls. Rana fell on the next delivery he faced.
The match had the makings of a thriller when KKR had their two match-winners at the crease. Singh performed an unbelievable heist earlier in the season and Russell has one of the highest strike rates in the IPL. They did not disappoint. Arshdeep Singh almost spoiled the fun with his monumental effort to defend six runs in the final over. He ended up conceding eight.
Shikhar Dhawan, like Rana, held together PBKS' innings. The PBKS captain watched wickets fall on one end while he worked his way to a solid 57 off 47. This was a slower knock, by Dhawan's standards this season. The PBKS captain has been in fine form, leading with the runs for his team even though he missed a few matches, with a strike rate of 149 - his highest ever in an IPL season.
PBKS' Achilles in this match was their inability to fashion substantial partnerships. They had only two significant partnerships. One was between Dhawan and Jitesh Sharma. It was worth 53 off 42. The other was a 40-run partnership between M Shahrukh Khan and Harpreet Brar. Beyond that, there was not much from the PBKS batters.
Varun Chakravarthy continued his brilliant season for KKR with a three-wicket haul. The 31-year-old legspinner took three wickets for 26 runs in four overs. Chakravarthy had the joint-best economy rate with 6.50 runs an over. Suyash Sharma also conceded at 6.50 runs an over.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy.
PUNJAB KINGS: Shikhar Dhawan, Prabhsimran Singh, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sam Curran, M Shahrukh Khan, Rishi Dhawan, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh.