In a match, featuring several big hitters Kolkata Knight Riders came victorious against Kings XI Punjab at Eden Gardens. Both teams won their first match in a thrilling manner and this match was expected to be another cracking contest. But KXIP couldn’t survive under the pressure in this game and lost the match by 28 runs.

Punjab asked Kolkata to bat first, who went bonkers with the bat and put a mammoth total of 218/4 in 20 overs. Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana scored half-centuries and hit boundaries at a regular interval in the middle overs. KXIP’s top orders got crumbled in this high-profile game and concede an easy win to KKR.

Watch – Russell punished KXIP bowlers after getting a lifeline

Schoolboy error in field placement

Things were falling in place for Kings XI Punjab at towards the death over and Mohammed Shami came back with a superb over. Shami dismissed the dangerous man Andre Russell in that same over with a pinpoint Yorker. But a poor field placement by KXIP forced umpire to call that a no-ball. This turned out to be the most defining incident in the match.

Deadly blow by Dre Russ

Given a lifeline, Andre Russell instantly turned his beast mode on. He smashed Shami for three sixes in a row in the very next over. Russell didn’t stop here and punished Andrew Tye as well with some serious blows. The all-rounder finished with a match-defining 17-ball 48 runs. This helped KKR to score a mammoth total of 218/4, which proved enough for them to win.

Also Read: Who will be the X factor for KXIP in IPL 2019?

Top-order fell cheaply

Chasing a big total, Punjab didn’t off to a great start. They were dependent on their openers to score big in this chase but KL Rahul fell for just one run. The onus was, now, on Chris Gayle to go bang bang, but he followed Rahul and fell for just 20 runs. Though Mayank Agarwal did well with the bat and scorer a fifty that was not enough to chase down a big total.