Match no. 45 was played between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings. It was an important match for both of the teams as both were fighting for that valuable fourth spot on the points table.
KKR is running a healthy campaign during the second leg of the IPL. Winning three out of the last four fixtures and moving up the points table, they’ve got a chance to qualify for the play-offs, if only they can manage to win all the remaining fixtures.
The Pitch at Dubai International Cricket Stadium offers adequate help to both batsmen and bowlers. Of the three pitches, which have been used in the second leg IPL 2021, batsmen find Dubai as the ideal one to bat on.
PBKS on the other hand with few in-form classy cricketers were looking to bounce back against KKR after their last loss against MI.
In an interesting decision by the skipper KL Rahul, Punjab kings won the toss and chose to bowl first.
A responsible start by KKRs Iyer
The youngsters- Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gills opened for KKR and were steadily heading along with a good run rate until the beginning of the third over when PBKSs in-form Arshdeep Singh strikes and takes the wicket of Shubman Gill who was scoring just seven runs.
With Rahul Tripathy in the middle after that dismissal, KKR was seen to be well settled for the next 72 runs without losing a wicket. Both Iyer and Tripathy build their innings cautiously and beautifully.
The next bowler to strike for PBKS to strike was Ravi Bishnoi. He was creating pressure for both the batsmen to score runs. It is then when he struck during the 12th over and took KKRs Tripathy who was batting beautifully at 34 alongside Iyer.
Iyer’s beautiful and responsible innings of 67 runs from 49 balls and striking at 136.73 came to an end during the 15th over by Bishnoi and leaving KKR at a score of 120/3.
After that Nitish Rana batting sensibly for KKR and score 31 runs from just 18 balls was something much needed for the side.
However, none of the batters could bat properly after that and KKR managed to get a decent score of 165/7 on the board at the end of 20 overs.
It was an openers show yet again for PBKS!
Both the leading scorers for Punjab opened for them and thus ending up in a sensible but explosive start. The Skipper Rahul along with the dangerous Mayank Agarwal punished each bowler that came along their way until the ninth over.
The dangerous and in-form Varun Chakravarthy strikes for KKR with a stunner. Chakravarthy took 2 wickets bowling his quota of four overs with a super economy of just six.
KL Rahul was playing one of his best innings in the IPL 2021, where he led the team with his batting. On one end it was seen that wickets were falling until the 17th over when Sharukh Khan took the guards for Punjab.
Both Rahul and Khan along with their responsible and mature batting build the winning partnership for Punjab.
But, Rahul’s dismissal during the 20th over while they required four runs in four balls was something that the whole concept of IPL is all about – intense pressure situations! Sharukh Khan from Punjab made sure that their Skipper’s efforts don’t go in vain and won the match with three balls to spare.
Thus, Punjab won the important match that they faced against the dangerous KKR yesterday at Dubai making both the teams equal in terms of points distribution. However, because of KKRs net run rate, they enjoy all the privileges at the fourth spot.