Kolkata, 08 May (Hindustan Times). In the 53rd match of the Indian Premier League-2023 (IPL), Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Punjab Kings by five wickets. Once again the win-loss was decided in the last ball. Kolkata needed 26 runs in the last 12 balls, then Andre Russell and Rinku Singh did a brilliant batting and gave the team the victory by hitting a four off the last ball.
Chasing the target of 180 runs, Kolkata got off to a simple start. Openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Jason Roy shared a 38-run partnership for the first wicket. This pair was broken by Nathan Ellis by dismissing Gurbaz (15 runs). Shortly after this, Harpreet Brar also returned Jason Roy to the pavilion on a personal score of 38. Then captain Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer, who came to the crease, handled the innings and shared a 51-run partnership. However, Iyer could not contribute much and was dismissed by Rahul Chahar after scoring 11 runs. Meanwhile, Nitish Rana completed his half-century and found his way to the pavilion on his next ball. Russell’s blistering innings came to an end in the last over. He was run out after scoring 42 runs off 23 balls. Then Rinku Singh made the team win by hitting a four on the last ball of the innings. Rinku scored 21 runs in 10 balls. Rahul Chahar got two wickets for Punjab, while Harpreet Brar and Nathan Ellis got one wicket each.
Earlier, captain Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran Singh got off to a blistering start for Punjab Kings after winning the toss while batting. There was a 21-run partnership for the first wicket between the two. Prabhasimran fell victim to Harshit Rana after scoring 12 runs on the last ball of the second over. Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who came to bat at number three, returned to the pavilion without opening the account. Then Liam Livingston, who came to support Shikhar, took some good shots but could not stay at the crease for long. Livingstone played an inning of 24 runs in 13 balls. Punjab got the fourth blow in the form of Jitesh Sharma (21 runs). Meanwhile, Shikhar completed his half-century. In the 15th over of the innings, Dhawan was dismissed after scoring 57 runs off 47 balls. After him, Rishi Dhawan 19 runs, Shah Rukh Khan 21 runs and Harpreet Brar 17 runs contributed significantly. Varun Chakraborty took 3 wickets for Kolkata, while Harshit Rana took 2 wickets and Suyash Sharma-Nitish Rana took 1-1 wickets.
