Xtra Time Web Desk: KL Rahul played a captain’s knock (67 off 55) as Punjab Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by five wickets in IPL 2021 match at Dubai International Stadium on Friday to stay in the race for Play Offs. The win saw Punjab climb to the fifth spot with 10 points from 12 matches. Knight Riders stay in the fourth spot with similar points but have a superior run rate. Mumbai Indians who are also on 10 points have played a match less and can overtake both KKR and PBKS if they win Saturday’s fixture against Delhi Capitals.
Punjab Kings had a confident start thanks to the opening partnership of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal (40 off 27 balls) that put on 70 runs. Mayank was put down by KKR captain Eoin Morgan on zero. A late cameo from Sharukh Khan (22 off 9 balls) saw PBKS cruise home with three balls to spare.
Varun Chakravarthy once again put up a decent show with the ball (2/24) for the Knights picking two crucial wickets including the wicket of Mayank. KKR felt the absence of a fifth bowler as Venkatesh Iyer went for 30 runs in his 2.3 overs although he did pick the wicket of Rahul in the final over.
Earlier Venkatesh Iyer carried on his sublime form in IPL 2021 second leg as he hit a fluent 67 while Nitish Rana produced a fiery 31 off 18 balls before Punjab Kings managed to stop KKR at 165 for seven. Invited to bat, the in-form KKR batsmen controlled the proceedings for a major part of their innings and had it not been some excellent death over spells by Mohammed Shami (1/23) and Arshdeep Singh (3/32), KKR would have got a bigger score on the board.
Iyer and Rahul Tripathi (34 off 26 balls) raised a 72-run stand, stroking the ball around with ease while Rana’s cameo was also crucial for KKR since the run-rate had taken a hit at that time after two quick wickets.
Arshdeep Singh (3/32) and Ravi Bishnoi (2/22) were the successful bowlers for Punjab.