Kolkata Knight Riders beat Punjab Kings in a thrilling match of IPL 2023 and it was again Rinku Singh who hit a boundary off the last ball to take his side over the line at the iconic Eden Garden on Monday. Batting first, Punjab didn’t have a good start as they lost 3 wickets in the powerplay. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan took control from one end and scored his 50th IPL half-century. Shahrukh Khan’s 21 off 8 and Harpreet Brar 17 off 9 helped PBKS reach a par total of 179 runs. KKR spinner Varun Chakaravarthy restricted Punjab players from scoring runs and bowled in right areas. The Right arm-leg spin bowler bowled beautifully and completed his 4 over spell at 3 for 26. Harshit Rana also got three wickets whereas KKR skipper Nitish Rana and Suyash Sharma contributed with one wicket each.
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Chasing 180 to win the game, KKR had a decent start as they were 64 for 2 in 7.2 overs but a 51 run partnership between skipper Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer kept the scoreboard running. Nitish Rana lost his wickets after scoring a half century and left the game in the hands of two best finishers of the Indian Premier League. Rinku Singh and Andre Russell were on the crease when KKR needed 56 off 28 balls and finally the Jamaican cricketer showed off his skills of hitting a cricket ball in the 19th over when he hit 20 runs to English all rounder Sam Curran. With 6 runs needed off the last over skipper handed the ball to Arshdeep singh who took the match to the last ball. Russell got dismissed while attempting a run off the second last ball and leaving things in Rinku’s hand. The southpaw got a full toss on his thigh and he flicked it for boundary at deep backward square leg and won the game by 5 wickets.
After beating Punjab Kings KKR directly moved from 8th to 5th spot with 10 points in 11 matches. Whereas, PBKS moved down to 7th spot.
