Kolkata Knight Riders Posted A Target Of 165 Runs:
Kings XI Punjab got KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal off to a solid start, adding 47 runs in the first six overs to chase a 165 target. As he broke two boundaries and a maximum in a Prasidh Krishna over, Agarwal was the more attacking of the two batsmen.
As the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) posted 164/6 in their 20 overs, Dinesh Karthik led from the front, scoring 58 out of 29 balls. 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.
