Ahmedabad: Eoin Morgan (47 n o, 4×4, 2×6) finally came to the party to help Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) cross the finish line against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their IPL encounter here Monday. Riding on Eoin Morgan’s knock, KKR managed to beat PBKS by wickets and register their second win of the competition. However, chasing a victory target of 124, KKR had a wobbly start and were struggling at 17 for three. However, Morgan first put on 66 runs for the fourth wicket with Rahul Tripathi (41, 32b, 7×4), before taking his team to victory.
It was not an innings that Morgan will remember for posterity as it was scratchy. He was beaten numerous times, played false shot on a number of occasions. However, he did not throw his wicket away and it enabled him to get back into some sort of form. Giving him company at the end was Dinesh Karthik (12 n o) as KKR reached 126 for five with 20 balls to spare. The win helped KKR jump to fifth spot in the IPL points table.
Earlier riding on some fine bowling by spinners Sunil Narine (2/22) and Varun Chakravarth (1/24), KKR restricted PBKS to 123 for nine wickets. The spinners of Knight Riders were ably assisted by pacemen Prasidh Krishna (3/30) and Pat Cummins (2/31) who also picked up wickets at regular intervals. A late burst by Chris Jordan (30, 18b, 1×4, 3×6) took the Kings past the 120-run mark.
KKR skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and elected to bowl and their bowlers bowled a restrictive line and length to stifle the opposition batsmen. KL Rahul (19) and Mayank Agarwal (31) gave their team a good start putting on 36 in the first six overs. However, once Rahul left, the others failed to put up a resolute batting performance against some steady bowling. The dismissal of Chris Gayle for a first-ball duck also contributed to the Kings misfortune. Gayle was caught behind by Dinesh Karthik of Shivam Mavi.
The winning target of should not be much of a botheration for KKR. However, cricket is a funny game and the Knights have in the past crumbled against pressure. It remains to be seen whether the PBKS will rise to the challenge and pull of the unthinkable.
Brief scores: PBKS 123 for 9 (Mayank Agarwal 31, Sunil Narine 2/22, Pat Cummins 2/31, Prasidh Krishna 3/31) lost of KKR 126 for five in 16.4 overs (Eoin Morgan 47 n o, Rahul Tripathi 41) by five wickets.