NEW DELHI: A gritty half-century from skipper Nitish Rana was followed by a ‘Russell’ mania as Kolkata Knight Riders pipped Punjab Kings in a last-ball thriller to keep their playoffs hopes alive in the ongoing 16th edition of the IPL on Monday.
KKR finally cracked the Eden Gardens code after three straight defeats at home, registering a thrilling five-wicket win in chase of a tricky 180.
The win was Kolkata’s fifth of the season which helped them jump to the fifth spot on the points table. Punjab, on the other hand, suffered their sixth defeat of the season and are now at 7th spot 11 games into their season.
WHAT. A. FINISH! 👌 👌
It went right down to the final ball of the match! 👍 👍@rinkusingh235 & @KKRiders held their nerve & how to seal a win over the spirited @PunjabKingsIPL! 👏 👏
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/OaRtNpANNb #TATAIPL | #KKRvPBKS pic.twitter.com/9NZLfEzF0l
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 8, 2023
With two needed off the final ball, Rinku Singh ‘the finisher’ once again stayed calm as a cucumber, hitting Arshdeep Singh for a boundary to wrap up the tense chase.
It was a complete ‘RRR’ show by KKR as skipper Rana’s fifty and Andre Russell adding muscle to the chase of 180 enabled Rinku to finish off the game with a 10-ball-21 not out.
Earlier, Varun Chakravarthy once again brilliantly spearheaded their bowling department to grab 3/26 as KKR put up a tidy bowling show to restrict PBKS to a par 179 for seven after the visitors opted to bat on a slow wicket.
In reply, KKR show batting show was led by Rana’s stellar effort when he promoted himself to No 3 and laid the foundation with a 38-ball 51 (6×4, 1×6).
On a wicket where the odd ball was gripping and batters struggled to find their timings, Rana stiched a crucial fifty-plus stand with Venkatesh Iyer (11) before Andre Russell and Rinku Singh sealed the issue.
Needing 56 off 28 balls after Rana became Rahul Chahar’s second victim, Russell went ballistic against Sam Curran smoking him for three sixes in four balls in a 20-run over to change the equation in favour of KKR who needed six off the last over.
But death over specialist Arshdeep Singh who had six to defend took it down the wire with four off first four balls. Arshedeep has often floundered of late failing to nail his yorkers.
There was more drama when Russell was ran out in the penultimate ball as a calm-headed Rinku Singh (21 not out; 10b) once again came to KKR’s rescue sealing the win with a boundary off the last ball.