New Delhi: Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) showed a good performance in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), yet toward the end Andre Russell’s last over show the distinction between the teams at Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
The West Indian all-rounder played a four-for, furthermore influenced a splendid run-out in the last over to give KKR their 6th win of the season.
After winning the toss, Murali Vijay put the hosts into bat even as talks of rain in Kolkata dominated the pre-match build-up.
It was a slow start from KKR openers, but one again, Robin Uthappa (70 off 49) and Gautam Gambhir (54 off 45) laid in 13.3 overs to give themselves a good foundation.
But, some good death bowling from KXIP mean that the first the target was 164 on top of a challenging pitch.
Three wickets in the first innings were attributed to run outs, and not a single bowler managed to put their authority despite the pitch being a slow, slow one.
Punjab’s chase started off to a bad start with Marcus Stoinis falling in the first over itself. Then by the fourth over, they were down three with only 13 runs. And by the ninth over, Punjab have lost four wickets.
But a brilliant innings from Glenn Maxwell (68 off 42) helped Punjab pose a late fight-back. Maxwell’s LBW, while trying a reverse sweep against the turn in the 16th over effectively ended the match.
