On Saturday, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) managed to maintained their winning runs when they defeated Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by a narrow margin of two runs in the first double-header. In the first innings, Dinesh Karthik led from the front as he amassed 58 off just 29 deliveries followed by Prasidh Krishna taking three wickets in the second innings.
After winning the toss, the KKR skipper decided to bat first after winning the toss, but KKR found themselves in trouble soon. Mohammed Shami castled Rahul Tripathi for just four runs while Nitish Rana was involved in a horrible mix-up with Shubman Gill. KKR was reeling at 14/2 in the fourth over, Gill and Eoin Morgan rebuilt the innings well to add 49 runs together before Ravi Bishnoi got the better of the latter who was just starting to open up.
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Dinesh Karthik, under the scanner for his poor form, came out to bat at five and came out all guns blazing. After taking a few deliveries to settle down, he began opening up his arms. Even Gill concentrated on rotating the strike, Kartik launched an all-out attack as his 23-ball 50 helped KKR add 63 runs in the last five overs and they reached a total of 164/6 in their quota of 20 overs.
The 165-run target looked tricky and KKR needed some early wickets but KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal played some smart cricket to make sure that they pounced on the opportunity. The duo stitched their second-century partnership of the season and also crossed their respective 50-run mark.
However, more than half a job was done by then. However, even after Nicholas Pooran got out in a bid to finish things off only to get bowled off Sunil Narine, things started to change. The equation suddenly was now 20 of the last two overs. It was Sunil Narine to bowl the final over and Glenn Maxwell was in the middle, but, Narine came out goof as he bowled well and leave the equation to Maxwell needing 7 runs off the last ball.
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The Aussie all-rounder though almost pulled off a shot which almost went for a six but actually it landed just before the boundary cushions. KXIP’s losing rut continued despite dominating the game for 36 overs on the day.
Hits
Prasidh Krishna
Despite the fact that he was playing his first game of IPL 2020, Prasidh Krishan came out all guns blazing as he managed to scalp the in-form batsman, Mayank Ahrwal in his comeback spell. He completed his spell after scalping 3 wickets and conceded just 35 runs.
Dinesh Karthik
After failing to score consistent runs basis in the first five matches of the IPL 2020, the KKR skipper, Dinesh Karthik was desperate to score and he roared when it mattered the most. He amassed as many as 58 runs in just 29 deliveries with the help of eight fours and a six.
Flops
Prabh Simran Singh
It’s been the second consecutive game when Prabhsimran Singh has failed miserably. KXIP hasn’t managed to win a single match besides the match against RCB.
Chris Jordan
Chris Jordan has played just three games in this season so far and he bowled seven over in which he has a conceded as many as 135 runs at an economy rate of 12.27. He is yet to take a wicket this season.
