Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) hosted Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for the 44th match of the IPL 2018 at the Holkar Stadium in Indore.
Both the teams were after a win to stay alive in the race for top four finish in the points table. KXIP skipper R Ashwin won the toss and decided to bowl first. KXIP brought in Barinder Sran and Mayank Agarwal in the team, whereas KKR handed a debut to Javon Philip Ramon Scantlebury-Searles.
The KKR innings was the domination of batting over KXIP bowling. Taking advantage of the small ground, KKR went after a huge total. Lynn (27 in 17) and Narine (75 in 36 balls; 7x4s, 4x6s) gave them a perfect start with 53 runs in 5.2 overs. Uthappa hit 24, but then Andre Russell (31 in 14 balls, 3 sixes) and Dinesh Karthik (50 in 23 balls, 3 sixes, and 5 fours) upped the ante on KXIP bowling. Javon Searles hit the first ball he faced in his IPL career for a six.
KKR ended up making 245/6, the fourth highest IPL total ever and the highest total of IPL 2018. Andrew Tye was the pick of KXIP bowling with figures of 4/41 in 4 overs.
Chris Gayle (21 off 17 balls) and KL Rahul (66 off 29 balls; 2x4s, 7x6s) put on 57 in the first 6 overs. But once Gayle got out to Russell and Rahul got out to Narine, KXIP’s challenge to the chase of 246 lost its steam. Agarwal (0), Nair (3), Akshar (19) all failed to keep up with the required run rate, as KKR bowlers enjoyed the comfort of a huge total and picked up wickets.
Finch tried his best to battle for his team, but Searles took his wicket for 34 off 20 balls. Even R Ashwin (45 from 21 balls; 4x4s, 3x6s) had some fun with the bat, but the total was just too much for his team to chase down.
Andres Russell picked 3/41 and Prasidh Krishna picked two wickets to get KKR past the winning line. With this win, KKR bettered their chances for a top-four finish, while KXIP has some thinking to do as they lost a series of matches.
BRIEF SCORES:
KKR 245/6 (S NARINE 75; A TYE 4/41) defeated KXIP 214/8 (KL RAHUL 66; A RUSSELL 3/41) by 31 runs
