Ahmedabad: Riding on some fine bowling by spinners Sunil Narine (2/22) and Varun Chakravarth (1/24), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) restricted Punjab Kings (PBKS) to 123 for nine wickets in their IPL encounter here Monday. 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, Prasidh Krishna 3/31, Sunil Narine 2/22, Pat Cummins 2/31).
