New Delhi:
Kings XI Punjab defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders in a thrilling encounter in Mohali by 14 runs.
Man-of-the-match Mohit Sharma and Sandeep Sharma bowled some brilliant death overs after the spinners Rahul Tewatia and Axar Patel took crucial wickets and choked run-flow in the middle overs.
The victory also meant that Punjab has kept its hopes of reaching the play-offs alive as they have earned 12 points from their 12 games. They have won and lost six games each and will give Sunrisers Hyderabad a tough fight for the fourth spot.
KXIP scored 167 runs in their 20 overs for the loss of 6 wickets in the do or die match as Glenn Maxwell and Wriddhiman Saha avoided valuable runs. The KKR bowlers didn’t let the Punjab batsmen score freely as they took regular wickets during their innings.
KXIP too came out with all guns blazing and their bowlers took early wickets to dent KKR innings. Apart from Chris Lynn who top-scored with 84, none of the Knight Riders batsmen were able to break the shackles imposed by Punjab bowlers.
Rahul Tewatia bowled a tidy spell of 4-0-18-2 whereas Mohit Sharma too gave his team two crucial breakthroughs. Axar Patel too bowled an economical spell where he gave only 28 runs off his 4 overs.
The Punjab team which played Martin Guptill in the absence of their top-scorer Hashim Amla, bonded well as a unit and outplayed their opponents in all departments of the game.
