Kolkata Knight Rider’s Had Posted A Target Of 185 Runs:
As Kolkata Knight Riders and Mayank Agarwal scored fifties to place Kings XI Punjab in a commanding position while chasing a 165-run target set by Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab crumbled once again in a close game. The duo got a solid start from their side, adding 47 runs in the first six overs. As he shattered two boundaries and a maximum in a Prasidh Krishna over, Agarwal was the more attacking of both.
Earlier, Dinesh Karthik led from front, scoring 58 off 29 balls, as KKR posted 164/6 in their 20 overs. This season, opener Shubman Gill continued his good run and kept the KKR innings together, scoring 57 out of 47 balls. Also among the runs scoring main 24 runs was Eoin Morgan, who promoted the order to bat at No. 4. Kings XI Punjab bowlers earlier forced KKR on the backfoot, limiting them in the powerplay to 25/2.
KKR found it tough against KXIP new ball bowlers after choosing to bat, especially Shami and Arshdeep Singh, who bowled tight lines and caused a lot of trouble for them. Shami cleaned out Rahul Tripathi to send the first breakthrough to Kings XI Punjab. After a big mix-up in the very next over sent Nitish Rana packing, KKR suffered a further significant blow.
In the first six overs, young medium pacer Arshdeep Singh was the most economical among the bunch, conceding only two runs in his two-over spell. The batting order was promoted by Eoin Morgan, who combined with Gilll to stitch a small partnership. Ravi Bishnoi got rid of Morgan to give KKR a big blow just as things were looking good for them. From there on, however, Dinesh Karthik played like a true leader and led them to a complete war.
