KKR vs PBKS: Kolkata Knight Riders win last ball thriller to move to No.5 in IPL 2023 points table

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Punjab Kings in a dramatic match to join the 10-point logjam in the 2023 IPL points table.

KKR chased down 180 at the Eden Gardens on Monday to secure their second consecutive victory of the season and storm to fifth in the standings.

KKR captain Nitish Rana had set the tone for the win with 51 off 38 balls before Andre Russell smashed 42 off 21 balls. The onus was on Rinku Singh as KKR needed 2 runs off the final ball; he hit a boundary off Arshdeep Singh as KKR won a nailbiter.

Kolkata Knight Riders have now joined four other teams Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings who have 10 points so far in the tournament. However, unlike RR, PBKS and KKR who have played 11 matches, RCB and MI have only played 10 so far.

Chasing 180, Kolkata Knight Riders got off to a quick start thanks mainly to Jason Roy. Arshdeep Singh was particularly expensive in his first spell, giving away 21 runs off 2 overs as Jason Roy decided to attack early on a pitch where run-scoring was difficult in the first innings. Roy’s opening partner Rahmanullah Gurbaz was also settling into a nice rhythm before PBKS Impact Player Nathan Ellis deceived Gurbaz with a back-of-the-hand slower ball to trap him LBW.

Jason Roy continued to be aggressive as KKR skipper Nitish Rana joined him at the crease and hit Sam Curran for successive boundaries as the hosts finished the Powerplay with 52 for 1. PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan introduced spin in the 7th over of the KKR innings but that did nothing to stop the Roy onslaught – he hit Liam Livingstone for two boundaries before Harpreet Brar struck to get the dangerous opener. That allowed PBKS to apply the brakes and Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer were unable to break the shackles as KKR reached 76 for 2 at the halfway stage.

With the required rate shooting past 10-an-over, Nitish Rana saw an opportunity as Liam Livingstone came back for his second over – the KKR captain hit him for 4, 4 and 6 off the first three deliveries off the 11th over to put the chase back on track. He attack Sam Curran soon after but Venkatesh Iyer who struggled to accelerate, fell to Rahul Chahar. Andre Russell was sent up the order to join Rana in what had started to become a tense chase. With five overs left, KKR needed 58 runs.

The big blow for KKR came in the 16th over; Nitish Rana got to his fifty with two off Rahul Chahar before attempting a reverse shot and holding out to Livinstone in the deep. KKR had the two best hitters in the team – Russell and Rinku Singh in the middle – as PBKS looked to build more pressure in a tight chase. KKR needed 51 runs off 24 balls after Rahul Chahar bowled out his quota. And the pacers were unable to stop the Russell-Rinku combination as the pair dealt in boundaries and sixes to steer the Knight Riders to victory in the last over. It was anything but a comfortable win. With 6 needed off the final over, Arshdeep ran Russell out before Rinku hit a boundary off the final delivery to seal victory.

Punjab Kings had scored 200 plus totals in their four previous matches this season but their batters faltered against Kolkata Knight Riders after Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and decided to bat. PBKS had mixed results in those four matches before the game against KKR on Monday, having lost two and won two. Starting late last month, PBKS had defended 214 against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, responded with 201 to Lucknow Super Giants’ 257, chased down 201 against Chennai Super Kings and then failed to defend an identical 214 against MI, this time in Mohali.

The conditions were definitely more challenging at the Eden Gardens. Barring Shikhar Dhawan, the PBKS batters were found wanting. Harshit Rana struck twice in his first two overs to dismiss Prabhsimran Singh for 12 and Bhanuka Rajapaksa who replaced Mathew Short for a duck. Liam Livingstone came out and batted the way PBKS have done for the last fortnight but his enthusiastic start was cut short by Varun Chakravarthy who was once again the star performer for the Knight Riders. Varun Chakravarthy picked two more wickets to dismiss Jitesh Sharma and Rishi Dhawan and finished with figures of 3 for 26 off his 4 overs.

Jitesh Sharma has been key to PBKS’s success with the bat over the last four matches but like most of the others, he too failed to find a measure of the pitch and largely struggled during an 18-ball 21.

Punjab Kings were outplayed by KKR’s spinners. Sunil Narine did not pick any wicket but he gave away only 29 runs off his 4 overs while Suyash Sharma snared the dangerous Sam Curran when PBKS looked to accelerate. Nitish Rana bowled just one over but he dismissed Shikhar Dhawan who was looking to up the ante after reaching his half-century.

This was the third fifty for Shikhar Dhawan in the 2023. He is now only the third batter after Virat Kohli and David Warner with 50 half-centuries in the Indian Premier League.

Punjab Kings who were 143 for 7 at the end of 18 overs, scored 36 off the last 12 balls to eventually finish with 179/7. Shahrukh Khan and Harpreet Brar played some stunning shots against the inexperienced Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana to give PBKS a strong total to bowl with as they sought an important victory to get out of the 10-point logjam in the middle of the points table.