Abu Dhabi: Sunil Narine and Prasidh Krishna displayed ice-cool temperament at the death as Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off a stunning two-run victory over a self destructive Kings XI Punjab in an IPL game on Saturday.
Dinesh Karthik’s side pulled off yet another Houdini Act after they were seemingly down and out when KXIP opening pair KL Rahul (74) and Mayank Agawal (56) had put on 115 runs in 14.2 overs while chasing 165. It looked like it would be only a matter of time when KXIP would wrap up the match and snap their four-match losing streak. But in the end, KXIP made a mess towards the end of their run chase to suffer their sixth defeat from seven matches and fifth on the trot while KKR notched up their fourth win in six matches. KXIP will now need a mathematical miracle to qualify.
The Mohali-based outfit needed 22 from the final three overs but the match turned on its head in the 18th over. Nicholas Pooran (16) gifted his wicket in the over bowled by Narine who conceded just two runs.
Needing 20 runs in the last two overs, KXIP lost two wickets in the space of three balls, including that of Rahul, in the penultimate over bowled by pacer Prasidh Krishna.
KXIP needed 14 runs from the last over and six of the final delivery to take the match to Super Over but Glenn Maxwell could only score a boundary for KXIP to lose the match by two runs.
Earlier, Rahul and Agarwal, the top two run getters in this IPL, avoided taking undue risk while getting the odd boundaries to keep the asking rate under control. They were 47 for no loss after powerplay with Pat Cummins bowling three of the first six overs. Rahul was dropped by Andre Russell off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna in the second over when he was on two. Russell hurt himself while fielding after a few overs but returned in the 11th over only to leave the field again in the 13th over. (PTI)
