With a nail-biting victory against Punjab Kings on Monday, Kolkata Knight Riders stayed alive in the race for the Indian Premier League play-offs thanks to Andre Russell’s blistering 42 and Rinku Singh’s heroics in the last over.
At 124-4 while pursuing 180 for victory, Kolkata appeared to be in danger. However, Russell and Rinku put up a devastating partnership of 54 runs to win by five wickets at their home ground, Eden Gardens. Rinku scored an unbeaten 21 off 10 balls.
During the 19th over, Russell hit England left-arm fast Sam Curran for three sixes, but he was eventually run out on the last delivery. At that point, Kolkata needed two runs off the final ball.
The winning boundary was struck by the left-handed Rinku, who became an IPL sensation a month ago when he won a match for Kolkata by smashing five sixes on the final five balls of the contest. Rinku’s knock helped Kolkata win the match. Arshdeep Singh was the bowler.
“I did not take the last ball into consideration. An ecstatic Rinku commented, “Even when I hit those five sixes, I hadn’t thought much.” I was basing my play entirely on the quality of the ball. I was confident in my ability to see the game through to its conclusion.
Russell, the man of the match, remarked something to the effect of “When I have Rinku at the other end, I am not worried.” I put my faith in him completely. When I consider what he is doing at this very moment, I get chills. I will be accompanied by a companion in the rear.”
As teams compete for the last four slots to qualify for the play-offs, Kolkata made a climb from eighth to fifth place in the table of ten teams, which is led by the holders, the Gujarat Titans.
After England’s Jason Roy, who stepped in as an impact player, gave the home team a great start with his 38 off 24 balls, Kolkata’s skipper Nitish Rana set the stage for the chase with his 51. However, a few wickets put Kolkata in a disadvantageous position.
But the combination of Russell and Rinku tore through the opposition’s assault as Kolkata pounded 53 runs in the final four overs to secure their fifth victory in 11 games.
The victory was secured by spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who had bowling stats of 3-26, including the crucial wicket of Liam Livingstone, who was leg before wicket for 15 as Punjab reached their final score of 179-7. The efforts of Punjab’s skipper Shikhar Dhawan, who scored 57 runs, and late cameos helped to improve the team’s total with 36 runs from the final two overs, but it was not enough.
Harshit Rana, a fast bowler, was responsible for the early breakthroughs, one of which was the dismissal of Bhanuka Rajapaksa for a duck. With their leg spin, Chakravarthy and Suyash collaborated to stifle Punjab’s run production, and it was down to them that Punjab’s big acquisition Curran was caught behind four.
Dhawan, who bats left-handed, tried to keep up the pace despite having no help from the other end as he hit his third fifty of the season before he was out in the 15th over. However, he was eventually run out of the game.