KXIP vs KKR: Punjab keep play-off hopes alive, beat Kolkata by 14 runs

Kings XI Punjab need to win all the rest of their matches in the league stage and hope for favourable results from the other matches that teams like Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders play to have any chance of making it into the playoffs this year. While the latter is something that has to be left to fate, winning matches is something that they can control and control is what they wrestled out of Kolkata Knight Riders’ hands in the death overs to record a 14-run win over them.

Kolkata Knight Riders had to chase a total of 168 to chase. As we have come to expect from them, Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn ensured that they get off to a brisk start. The two pieced together an opening partnership of 39 runs in just under 4 overs before Narine was dismissed by Mohit Sharma. Lynn was joined in the middle by Gautam Gambhir. As Lynn went along his own merry way and Gambhir stood guard, it did look like the Kings XI Punjab’s last match of the season could be the one they play later against Rising Pune Supergiant.

But then came Rahul Tewatia. The little-known leg-spinner came in and got the Kolkata Knight Riders captain in the ninth over. He then claimed the scalp of Robin Uthappa and suddenly, the Knight Riders seem to have fallen off their horsebacks. The presence of Chris Lynn in the middle meant that Kolkata always stood a chance.

Lynn and Manish Pandey then struggle to get a steady flow of runs going as Punjab tightened the screws in the field. Eventually, Pandey was dismissed by Matt Henry and Lynn too fell to a run-out. KKR still had capable batting hands in Chris Woakes and Yusuf Pathan but Punjab kept the pressure on in the death overs and came out as the winners.

Punjab struggled to get going in their innings and their total was made largely due to the belligerence of skipper Glenn Maxwell and the support he got from Wriddhiman Saha. The win takes Kings XI Punjab to 12 pints, two points behind Sunrisers Hyderabad in fifth place while Kolkata Knight Riders are second with 16 points.
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