Kings XIP defeat wasteful Kolkata
The Kings XI Punjab added another nail to the Kolkata Knight Riders' title defence, managing to defend a middling score despite a half century from Gautam Gambhir and a hat-trick by Sunil Narine.
The Kings XI Punjab added another nail to the Kolkata Knight Riders' title defence, managing to defend a middling score despite a half century from Gautam Gambhir and a hat-trick by Sunil Narine.
Adam Gilchrist's side recorded their third win out of five after scoring 157 for nine, thanks to a brisk death-overs cameo by Manpreet Gony. The Punjab bowlers did a superb job of defending their score, sharing the wickets between them as Kolkata reached 153 for nine.
The KXIP innings wasn't a sterling effort by any means, the highlight being the first hat-trick of the tournament for West Indies spinner Narine. He got rid of David Hussey Azhar Mahmood and Gurkeerat Singh in the 15th over, with the score on 99.
At that point, it looked like the score would fall well short of defendable, but Gony came in and blasted 23 runs off Narine's next over. scoring 42 off 18 balls before being bowled by Jacques Kallis, who took three wickets.
Kolkata's knock got off to a dire start when they lost Manvinder Bisla off the first ball, caught off Praveen Kumar behind the stumps. Kallis then departed with the score on two, leaving Gambhir and Eoin Morgan to rescue the knock.
The international pair went at a cracking pace and all looked well for the defending champs, and they put on a partnership of 104 runs. Gambhir then departed with his score on 60, and Morgan went 10 runs later for 47, and it all fell apart from there.
The middle and lower order were beyond useless, and though they managed to push the excitement to the final ball, where they needed five to win, Kumar kept his head and prevented a shot, leaving KKR near the bottom of the table.
Kings XI Punjab: A Gilchrist, Mandeep Singh, D Hussey, D Miller, Azhar Mahmood, M Vohra, Gurkeerat Singh, P Chawla, P Kumar, M Gony, P Awana
Kolkata Knight Riders: M Bisla, G Gambhir, J Kallis, Y Pathan, M Tiwary, E Morgan, R Bhatia, D Das, S Senanayake, S Narine, L Balaji
Latest
-
T20 World CupVirat Kohli believes MS Dhoni gives India a big edge
MS Dhoni could just be the ace up Virat Kohli’s sleeve.
-
The AshesJames Anderson warns Australia players not to cross the line with banter
Anderson asked Australia to be respectable.
-
T20 World CupT20 World Cup: Badree picks Shamsi as bowler to watch
Samuel Badree says that Tabraiz Shamsi is the number one T20I bowler in the world for a reason.
-
T20 World CupSri Lanka skipper Shanaka backs youth brigade
Sri Lanka’s skipper thinks they can go a long way at the T20 World Cup.
-
T20 World CupScotland skipper Kyle Coetzer excited by strength of T20 World Cup squad
Scotland start their campaign against Bangladesh in Muscat on Sunday.
-
T20 World CupSharif: Scotland the brave have improved massively
Scotland’s leading international wicket-taker chats to Cricket365 ahead of the 2021 T20 World Cup in Oman and the UAE.
-
T20 World CupMahmood believes India will handle pressure better than Pakistan
Can Pakistan handle the pressure on and off the field at the T20 World Cup.
-
Indian Premier LeagueMoeen Ali becomes first Englishman to win the IPL as CSK beat KKR
Chennai Super Kings won their third IPL title in four years with a sublime performance in Dubai.
-
T20 World CupMuttiah Muralitharan: No clear favourite for T20 World Cup
The spin wizard feels that any one of the top sides could walk away with the trophy.
-
T20 World CupMark Wood hopes he and Tymal Mills can ‘bring some fire’ at T20 World Cup
The Durham speedster pipped Jofra Archer for pace at the 2019 World Cup and challenged Mills to step up this time around.