Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab Kings by 5 wickets in the 53rd match of the IPL. KKR has 10 points from 11 matches and reached number five in the points table, while Punjab Kings are at number seven with 10 points. Right now, the hopes of reaching the playoffs of all the teams are alive.
After the defeat, Shikhar Dhawan said his team scored well on a difficult pitch, but the Kolkata Knight Riders team performed better than them and won the match. Dhawan said that he is missing a good off-spinner.
Chasing Punjab’s target of 180, KKR won by 182 runs for five wickets on the last ball with the innings of Nitish Rana (51), Andre Russell (42), and Jason Roy (38). Rinku Singh (21 not out off 10 balls) gave the team victory by hitting a four on Arshdeep Singh on the last ball. Russell hit three sixes and three fours in 23 balls.
Earlier, Punjab scored 179 for seven with the help of Shahrukh Khan (21 not out off eight balls), Harpreet Brar (17 not out off 9 balls), and Rishi Dhawan (19 off 11 balls) besides captain Shikhar Dhawan (57 off 47 balls) and a 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
Dhawan said after the match, “Not feeling well. We lost the match, and it was not an easy wicket to bat on, and I think we scored well. Fast bowler, Arshdeep Singh had to stop KKR from scoring six runs to win in the last over. He took the match to the last ball but could not save his team from defeat.”
“The final over was fantastic; Arshdeep’s great effort and how he returned after the last match, all the credit goes to him. It was interesting enough that he took the match to the last ball. It went well. I think we don’t have a good off-spinner.” he further added.
