Abu Dhabi: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mounted a last-minute comeback to beat Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 2 runs in a last ball thriller at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on October 10 (Saturday).
KKR won the toss and elected to bat first. KKR huffed at the start losing two wickets early on. Shubman Gill’s 57 off 47 balls provided the foundation of the innings as Kolkata battled on. After Dinesh Karthik (58 off 29 balls) came on at number five, the scenario changed as KKR scored a massive 63 runs in the final five overs to post 164/6 at the end of 20 overs. For KXIP, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh and Ravi Bishnoi settled with a wicket each.
In return, KXIP were off to a decent start as its in-form openers Rahul (74 off 58 balls) and Mayank Agarwal (56 off 39 balls) added 47 runs in the initial six overs. The comfortably steered Punjab over the 100-run mark in 12.2 over as Rahul hammered Pat Cummins for a boundary and meanwhile, also notched up his half-century. Rahul and Mayank Agarwal stitched together a massive 115-run opening stand. But a flurry of wickets saw KXIP going from 143/1 in 17 overs after Mayank’s wicket to 162/5 in 20 overs, eventually falling 2 runs short of their target. KKR eked out a narrow two-run win against KXIP in a thrilling final over contest.