KL Rahul was always going to be Punjab Kings’ go-to man in their tricky chase of a 166-run target against Kolkata Knight Riders. On a slow Dubai wicket, the match hung in the balance till the last over but Punjab scraped through by five wickets with three balls remaining.
The result also means that Delhi Capitals have qualified for the play-offs.
Punjab’s Shahrukh Khan ultimately hit the winning runs, a six off Venkatesh Iyer. Rahul Tripathi had a chance to hold on to the ball on second attempt, but by then he had crossed over the line at deep mid wicket.
Rahul had also survived a controversial catch by Tripathi in the 19th over off Shivam Mavi. After several close replays, the third umpire ruled that Tripathi hadn’t picked it up cleanly. Punjab needed 10 off 11 balls at that stage. Commentators Sunil Gavaskar and Kevin Pietersen, however, felt the catch was fair. Rahul departed in the next over for 67 off 55 balls.
Rahul and Mayank Agarwal’s 70-run opening partnership set them up perfectly for the chase. Both technically sound batsmen, they relied heavily on cricketing strokes though Mayank was lucky to have survived early in his innings.
The Knight Riders’ ploy to strengthen their batting backfired in this match. They had gone in without Lockie Ferguson, picking Tim Seifert instead. This meant they were a bowler short and had to depend on Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana to complete the fifth bowler’s quota.
Morgan rotated the bowlers intelligently.
Despite Friday’s loss, the Knight Riders can still make the play-offs if they win their last two games — against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals. In that case, they will qualify with 14 points without the net run-rate coming into play. Some of the other results though have to go in their favour. At least one between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians would have to finish below 16 points in such a scenario.
Arshdeep show
Punjab staged a late comeback with Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep Singh giving away only 14 runs in the last two overs. While Shami’s experience came in handy, Arshdeep’s (3/32) control and discipline have been exemplary.
Arshdeep struck with his second ball removing Shubman Gill but Iyer (67 off 49 balls, 9x4, 1x6) and Rahul Tripathi (34 off 26 balls) made sure the momentum wasn’t lost. Iyer’s consistency has been impressive.