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Kolkata, May 9
Andre Russell smashed the joint fastest fifty of the season as Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off a heart-stopping one-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab to jump to the top of the IPL table.
Fortunes fluctuated like a pendulum in the contest which went to the wire as Piyush Chawla (18) struck a vital six off Anureet Singh to take the defending champions closer to the target of 184 and eventually they prevailed with one ball to go.
KKR were gasping at 83/4 at one stage and the required run rate had shot past 12 with 98 runs required from the last eight overs. From there Russell and Yusuf Pathan (29) put on 53 runs from 25 balls for the fifth wicket to turn the match around.
Russell slammed five fours and four sixes in his 21-ball 51 as he equalled Harbhajan Singh’s fastest fifty (from 19 balls) this season. Pathan provided perfect support from the other end to the Jamaican who unleashed his fury in front of a massive home crowd to take his team close to the target. There was never a clear winner as wickets kept falling but KKR kept nearing the target and eventually eight runs were required from the last over. KKR lost two wickets in three balls including that of Chawla, leaving Narine at the crease to score one run from two balls.
The left-hander held his nerve and played a flick shot, did not connect and took the winning run from the leg bye to seal his side a thrilling win.
KKR thus ended their home leg, winning three matches on the trot. They jumped to the top spot of the table with 15 points from 12 matches, while KXIP remained at the bottom (four from 11), suffering their seventh straight loss. — PTI
Scoreboard
Kings XI Punjab
M Vijay b Narine 28
M Vohra c&b Narine 39
W Saha b Narine 33
G Maxwell c Botha b Narine 43
D Miller not out 27
G Singh c&b Russell 4
G Bailey not out 0
Extras (B-1, LB-3, WD-5) 9
Total (5 wkts in 20 ov) 183
Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-78, 3-143,
4-149, 5-169
Bowling
U Yadav 4-0-36-0
A Russell 4-0-50-1
S Narine 4-0-19-4
J Botha 1-0-9-0
B Hogg 4-0-30-0
P Chawla 3-0-35-0
Kolkata Knight Riders
R Uthappa c Patel b Anureet 17
G Gambhir c Vijay b Gurkeerat 24
M Pandey c Patel b Maxwell 22
S Yadav b Gurkeerat 9
Y Pathan c Saha b Hendricks 29
A Russell c Saha b Patel 51
J Botha run out (Patel) 2
P Chawla c Saha b A Singh 18
B Hogg run out 5
U Yadav not out 0
S Narine not out 0
Extras (LB-3, WD-4) 7
Total (9 wkts in 19.5 ov) 184
Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-63, 3-69, 4-83, 5-136, 6-159, 7-161, 8-177, 9-183
Bowling
S Sharma 4-0-35-0
B Hendricks 4-0-35-1
A Singh 3.5-0-56-2
A Patel 4-0-33-1
G Singh 3-0-17-2
G Maxwell 1-0-5-1
Man of the Match: AD Russell
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