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Punjab Kings boosted their possibilities of making the IPL play-offs with a five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders as efficient demise over bowling and sensible batting by skipper KL Rahul and Shahrukh Khan formed their essential victory within the Indian Premier League in Dubai on Friday. Rahul scored 67 runs off 55 balls and shared a 70-run stand with fellow opener Mayank Agarwal (40), knocking off a 166-run goal with three balls to spare. Shahrukh produced an impactful 9-ball 22-run knock when it mattered and completed the match with a six.
Venkatesh Iyer hit a fluent 67 whereas Nitish Rana produced a fiery 31 off 18 balls earlier than Punjab Kings managed to cease KKR at 165 for seven.
Invited to bat, the in-form KKR batsmen managed the proceedings for a significant a part of their innings and had it not been some glorious demise over spells by Mohammed Shami (1/23) and Arshdeep Singh (3/32), KKR would have gotten an even bigger rating on the board.
Iyer and Rahul Tripathi (34 off 26 balls) raised a 72-run stand, stroking the ball round with ease whereas Rana’s cameo was additionally essential for KKR because the run-rate had taken a success at the moment after two fast wickets.
The Punjab batsmen didn’t set the sphere on hearth at first of the chase as all they may handle 46 runs within the powerplay however didn’t lose a wicket.
Of the 2 batsmen, it was Agarwal who was hitting the ball at a superb a strike price whereas Rahul was going a-run-a-ball.
Varun Chakravarthy separated the openers by having Agarwal caught at in additional cowl by Eoin Morgan, although it was a fierce shot.
Nicholas Pooran (12) was dropped at 1 by Tripathi in the identical area however Chakravarthy ensured that it wasn’t a expensive miss as he dismissed the West Indian quickly after.
Gripping the ball had turn out to be troublesome for the bowlers because of the dew however Punjab batsmen had been nonetheless comfortable working the ball round and getting an odd huge shot in between.
Rahul raised his half-century with one such shot off a slower one from Southee when he cleared the sq. leg area. KKR wanted 45 runs from the ultimate fiver overs.
Aiden Markram (18) hit a big six off Sunil Narine however was caught in the identical over whereas Deepak Hooda (3) additionally perished quickly.
Rahul appeared to have hit one straight to fielder however the third-umpire dominated him not out. He obtained out within the first ball of the ultimate over however Shahrukh completed the job to calm a nervous dugout .
PBKS moved to fifth within the desk with 10 factors whereas KKR stayed in fourth with similar variety of factors.
Earlier, left-arm pacer Arshdeep has been a prime performer for Punjab this season and he delivered once more by cleansing up Shubhman Gill (7) with a peach of supply that breached the defence of the batsman within the third over.
Iyer, who has been a revelation this season, continued his good run with some fluent drives on each side of the wicket regardless of that the ball was stopping a bit earlier than approaching to the bat.
The batsmen’s constructive method and lack of management over the road by the Punjab pacers meant that run-rate stored hovering for KKR.
The partnership was lastly damaged by spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who had Tripathi caught within the deep.
The leg-spinner was additionally economical ending with figures of two for 22 in 4 overs.
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Iyer accomplished his fifty with a single off Allen after which lofted the West Indian bowler for a six to boost group’s hundred within the thirteenth over.
Two fast wickets fell when Bishnoi removed Iyer, who went for a giant shot, and Shami trapped rival skipper Eoin Morgan (2), who shuffled a bit in the direction of the off facet however missed the road of the dipping ball that caught him in entrance of the wicket.
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