On Saturday evening, the hosts Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) suffered a defeat in their important game of IPL 2018 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Holkar Cricket Stadium (Indore).

KXIP captain Ravichandran Ashwin decided to field first after winning the toss. KKR batsmen totally dominated over the KXIP bowlers as they were able to put a mammoth total on the board of 245/6 in 20 overs.

That target was too much for KXIP. Despite batting well, they were well short of the target as their innings finished on 214/8 at the end of 20 overs.

Now, we will briefly talk about some important reasons for KXIP’s defeat in this game.

Sunil Narine innings

Sunil Narine once again provided a superb start with the bat for KKR. This time he completed his half-century in just 26 balls and stretched his innings to 75 runs off 36 balls with 9 fours and 4 sixes. His knock set the stage for KKR to put a big total on the board which other batsmen utilised brilliantly.

Poor bowling

KXIP bowlers performed very poorly in this game. While all the bowlers had 10 or more economy rates, they also failed to take regular wickets. The bowlers were hardly consistent while most of KKR batsmen had over 150 strike-rates.

Apart from Andrew Tye (4/41), other KXIP bowlers had also the poor images on their wicket columns. Their bowling was too expensive as KKR put a mammoth total which is hardly chaseable in the T20 cricket.

Regular wickets falling in the middle stage

Chasing a mammoth total, KXIP openers KL Rahul and Chris Gayle began the innings superbly as they put a brilliant 57-run partnership for the opening wicket. But once their partnership was broken, some quick wickets were fallen in that innings. Those quick wickets shut down KXIP’s little chance to win the game.

In the late, Aaron Finch (34 runs off 20 balls) and the skipper Ravichandran Ashwin (45 runs off 22 balls) tried hard, but the team was well short of the target.