Kings XI Punjab thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets in rain-curtailed match at the Eden Gardens Kolkata to move to top of the table in IPL 2018.


Chasing a stiff target of 192, the visitors got off to a flying start courtesy their destructive openers KL Rahul and Chris Gayle, reaching 96 for no loss in 8.2 overs before rain forced the players to go off.


When play resumed after a 70-minute break, Kings XI’s target was revised to 125 off 15 overs. Rahul and Gayle started from where they had left before the break. Gayle notched up his third consecutive fifty of the season with a huge six off Chawla. His partner, Rahul was not far behind as he joined Gayle with an equally monstrous six off Narine in the next over to get to his fifty off 24 balls.






KKR got their consolation wicket of Rahul when he perished for 60, trying to clear the fence against Narine.


Gayle remained unbeaten on 62 with six sixes to his name and Kings XI knocked off the target in 11.1 overs.


Kolkata Knight Riders innings


Chris Lynn finally find the middle of his bat, smashing 74 off 41 balls as Kolkata Knight Riders scored 191 for 7 against Kings XI Punjab in match No. 18 of IPL 11 at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.


Apart from Lynn, skipper Dinesh Karthik contributed a quickfire 43 off 28 balls and his deputy Robin Uthappa scored 34 off 23 balls.


Aussie Lynn, who had been struggling to find his foot in the tournament, hit six boundaries and four sixes in his innings. Lynn was still not at his brutal best but he gave all the indications of Lynnsanity in Kolkata.


The powerful right-hander peppered the leg side boundary using the backing away technique to deposit the Kings XI Punjab over mid-wicket. He was particularly severe against left-arm medium pacer Barinder Sran.


After Lynn’s dismissal Karthik played a nice cameo to set up KKR for another big total. However the hosts again faltered towards end and managed to score only 11 runs in the final two overs.


For KXIP, Andrew Tye 2 for 30 was the most successful bowler. Barinder Sran also picked up two wickets but went for 50 runs.


Toss Report


Visting skipper R Ashwin won the toss and elected to field first against the might Kolkata Knight Riders at the picturesque Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata.


The visitors have dropped pacer Mohit Sharma from their playing XI with Ankit Rajpoot called in as the replacement.


The hosts, on the other hand, have fielded the same side that emerged victorious against Gautam Gambhir’s Delhi Daredevils.


A Win against Punjab will take back Kolkata Knight Riders to the top. They have won 3 games in their last 5 matches.


Squads


KXIP XI: L Rahul, C Gayle, M Agarwal, K Nair, A Finch, Y Singh, R Ashwin, A Tye, B Sran, A Rajpoot, M Ur Rahman


KKR XI: S Narine, C Lynn, R Uthappa, N Rana, D Karthik, A Russell, S Gill, T Curran, P Chawla, S Mavi, K Yadav


Preview


Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) will both be high on confidence after registering morale-boosting victories in their respective previous games when they clash in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Eden Gardens here on Saturday.


While KKR got the better of Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in Jaipur, Punjab rode Chris Gayle's blazing hundred to stymie Sunrisers Hyderabad's three-game unbeaten streak and coast to a 15-run victory at home.


KKR had Nitish Rana -- who fired with bat and ball once again -- and their wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla to thank for the second triumph in a row.


Rana took two crucial wickets of Ajinkya Rahane and D'Arcy Short when both were looking good for a big score. With the bat, KKR's most consistent player so far remained unbeaten on 35 to see them cross the line with ease.


Needless to say, Rana's form augurs well for Dinesh Karthik's men who also have Robin Uthappa among runs along with the captain himself.


Rana, who bagged the Man-of-the-Match award for the second game in a row, now has 162 runs in five matches at 40.50, and four wickets.


Backing up their batsmen, Kuldeep and Piyush kept it really tight the other day after they were handed the new ball. The pair returned combined figures of 2/41 in eight overs which is excellent in T20 cricket.


KKR's worry would be the form of dashing Australian opener Chris Lynn who lasted just two balls against Rajasthan and departed cheaply without troubling the scorers.


Lynn has struggled against spin and was seen playing with a horizontal bat in only the second ball of his innings to K. Gowtham who castled him.


The likes of Punjab captain R. Ashwin and 17-year old Afghanistan offie Mujeeb Ur Rahman would be licking their lips when they bowl to him and it remains to be see how the Queenslander tackles them.


The other opener, Sunil Narine, has come good with his brisk cameos, but has shown susceptibility to shot-pitched deliveries, something Punjab would be aware of.


Coming to Gayle, the burly West Indian smoked 11 sixes en route his unbeaten 63-ball 104 to help his side post a challenging 193/3.


Hyderabad were never in the chase and lost comprehensively in the end. This was Gayle's second consecutive match-winning innings after his 33-ball 63 against Chennai Super Kings.


Gayle's innings was typical of him but in the manner in which he saw off Bhuvneshwar Kumar's first spell and later unleashed a brutal assault on Rashid Khan's legspin, underlined the reservoir of experience that came into play during the knock.


Besides Gayle, Punjab bat deep with the likes of big-hitting Aaron Finch, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and ageing Yuvraj Singh in their ranks. Their bowling lacks experience, especially in the pace department. Mohit Sharma went for a lot of runs against Hyderabad and will have to get his act together against KKR


Having played one match less than KKR, Punjab have so far just lost once in four outings and are placed third. The two teams have met 21 times before and KKR have a superior 14-7 head to head record.


Teams (from)


KKR: Dinesh Karthik (c and WK), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, R Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi and Tom Curran.


KXIP: R Ashwin (Captain), Axar Patel, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Lokesh Rahul (WK), Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Zadran, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar.