Kings XI Punjab kept their slim hopes of making it to the last four alive with a hard-fought win over high-flying Kolkata Knight Riders. The Glenn Maxwell-led side had its back against the wall when they were restricted to 167 for 6 in the allotted 20 over. Their skipper top-scored for them with a 25-ball 44 runs knock while Wriddhiman Saha and Manan Vohra chipped in with 38 (33) and 25 (16) respecivetly.
The way Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine had blown away Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last game, the 167-run target was not looking an imposing one, at least when the chase began. Just like the previous match, the duo began playing the big shots right from the word go and stitched together an opening partnership of 39 runs in just 22 balls before Narine was sent back by Mohit Sharma.
Lynn continued the onslaught while in the form of Gautam Gambhir, he got a perfect partner. Both the players kept the scoreboard ticking and it was looking like the Kings XI Punjab’s playoff hopes were all but ended. But then Maxwell handed the ball to Rahul Tewatia and the match turned on its head straightaway. The leg-spinner dismissed Gambhir and the in-form Robin Uthappa in a space of three balls to leave the two-time champions reeling at 79 for 3 in the tenth over.
Lynn and Manish Pandey then struggled to score at a good rate and Kolkata eventually lost the match by 14 runs. Lynn top-scored for his side with a 84 runs from 52 balls while Rahul Tewatia was the most impressive bowler for the Kings XI with the figures of 2 for only 18 in his four overs.
Mumbai Indians veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, meanwhile, took to Twitter to congratulate the Kings XI for the fantastic win. He also had a word of praise for the top performers of the match.
“Top game congratulations @lionsdenkxip @Gmaxi_32 #Tiwatia s 4 overs?vs @KKRiders once again brilliant hitting by @lynny50 ?✅?@IPL ??,” the tweaker tweeted.
Top game congratulations @lionsdenkxip @Gmaxi_32 #Tiwatia s 4 overs?vs @KKRiders once again brilliant hitting by @lynny50 ?✅?@IPL ??
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) May 9, 2017