IPL 8 KKR vs KXIP: Andre Russell's half century powers KKR to 1-wicket win

Kolkata: Andre Russell smashed the joint  fastest fifty of the season as Kolkata Knight Riders pulled  off a heart-stopping one-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab to  jump to the top of the IPL table, here on Saturday.

Fortunes fluctuated like a pendulum in the contest which  went to the wire as Piyush Chawla (18) struck a vital six off  Anureet Singh to take defending champions closer to the target  of 184 and eventually they prevailed with one ball left.

KKR were gasping at 83 for 4 at one stage and the  required runrate had shot past 12 with 98 runs required from  last eight overs. From there Russell and Yusuf Pathan (29) put  on 53 runs from 25 balls for the fifth wicket to turn the  match around.

Russell slammed five fours and four sixes in his 21-ball  51 as he equalled Harbhajan Singh’s fastest fifty (from 19  balls) this season. Pathan provided perfect support from the  other end to the Jamaican who unleashed his fury in front of a  packed home support to take them near.
 

(Photo: BCCI)

There was never a clear winner as wickets kept falling  but KKR kept nearing the target and eventually eight runs were  required from the last over. KKR lost two wickets in three  balls including that of Chawla, leaving Narine at the crease  to score one run from two balls. The left-hander held his nerve and played a flick shot,  did not connect and took the winning run from the legbye to  seal his side a thrilling win.

KKR thus ended their homeleg winning three matches on the  trot and jumped to the top spot of the table with 15 points  from 12 matches, while KXIP remained at the bottom (four from  11), suffering seventh straight loss.

Earlier, Gambhir had KKR them a brisk start in the power  play with 57/1 in the first six overs but introduction of spin  put on the brakes.Left-arm spinner Patel gave away just two runs from his  first over, while offie Gurkeerat was tidier with just one run  to tighten the proceedings. As a result Manish Pandey tried to break free in the next  over but only to mistime Maxwell and was caught by Patel.  Gurkeerat gave the big breakthrough in Gambhir the next over  to derail KKR’s run chase.     

Scorecard

Kings XI Punjab: M. Vijay b Narine 28, M. Vohra c & b Narine 39, W. Saha b Narine 33, G. Maxwell c Botha b Narine 43, D. Miller (not out) 27,  Gurkeerat Singh c & b Russell 4, G. Bailey (not out) 0. Extras (b-1, lb-3, w-5) 9. Total (for five wickets in 20 overs) 183.
FoW: 1-45, 2-78, 3-143, 4-149, 5-169.
Bowling: Yadav 4-0-36-0, Russell 4-0-50-1, Narine 4-0-19-4, Botha 1-0-9-0, Hogg 4-0-30-0, Chawla 3-0-35-0.

Kolkata Knight Riders: R. Uthappa c Patel b Anureet 17, G. Gambhir c Vijay b Gurkeerat 24, M. Pandey c Patel b Maxwell 22, S. Yadav b Gurkeerat 9, Y. Pathan c Saha b Hendricks 29, A. Russell c Saha b Patel 51, J. Botha (run out) 2, P. Chawla c Saha b Anureet 18, B. Hogg (run out) 5, U. Yadav (not out) 0, S. Narine (not out) 0. Extras (lb-3, w4) 7. Total (for nine wickets in 19.5 overs) 184.
FoW: 1-31, 2-63, 3-69, 4-83, 5-136, 6-159, 7-161, 8-177, 9-183.
Bowling: Sandeep 4-0-35-0, Hendricks 4-0-35-1, Anureet 3.5-0-56-2, Patel 4-0-33-1, Gurkeerat 3-0-17-2, Maxwell 1-0-5-1.

 

Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders will aim for their third win on the trot and end the home leg on a high when they face a demoralised Kings XI Punjab.

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