Mandeep Singh came to open innings for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) two days after the death of his father and played a match-winning knock against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to take KXIP an inch closer to the IPL 2020 playoffs for the first time in the IPL in the UAE.

Mandeep, who lost his father a couple of days back and attended his funeral through video call, anchored the chase with an unbeaten knock of 66 off 56 balls, as well as, shared 100 runs partnership with Chris Gayle (52 off 29 balls) to help KXIP to beat KKR by 8-wicket in Sharjah.

After reaching his fifty, Mandeep pointed to the sky to pay tribute to his athletics coach father. With this win, KXIP jumped to the fifth spot in the IPL 13 points table and looked a strong contender to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in the IPL history.

After guiding KXIP to a massive win over KKR, Mandeep dedicated his match-winning knock to his late father by saying this knock was very special to him. The batsman further insisted that he had the belief he could win the game and even he convinced captain KL Rahul to allow him to play slowly as he wanted to finish off the game for the team.

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He also revealed that his father always wanted him to be “not out” in a post-match chat with a friend and teammate Gayle, saying he would be happy that he finished the game and played till the end.

Mandeep told Gayle after the KKR v KXIP match, “My father used to tell me that 'you should remain not out in every game' and that is what I wanted to do today. Even before the game, I spoke to Rahul that 'let me play my game, even if I take a few balls, I can win games for the team'. I think my father would be really happy that I finished the game and I remained not out.”

He also felt lucky to have got the opportunity to play alongside the likes of Gayle, Virat Kohli, and AB de Villiers in his IPL career. He also hailed Gayle’s friendship.

Mandeep signed off by saying, “I've been very lucky that I've played with guys like Chris, AB, Kohli. And I started with Chris in 2010 with KKR and very fortunate to know him as a friend. He's so humble. He makes the game so easy and I've never seen him struggle.”

(With PTI Inputs)