IPL 2020 - Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab - Match No. 24

Source: www.cricfit.com

Match number 24 of indian premier league 2020 took place on  10/10/2020  between the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Kings X1 Punjab (KXIP) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.  KKR decided to bat first. Both the teams made some changes to their lineup.  KKR brought in Chris Jordan instead of Sheldon Cottrell while KKR brought in Prasidh Krishna in place of Shivam Mavi.

Let's see how the game unfolds.

        KKR INNINGS

The opening two batsmen for KKR were Rahul Tripathi and Shubhman Gill while Mohammad Shami and Arshdeep Singh were the two bowlers Kings XI had decided to start their proceedings with.

Kings XI got their first breakthrough in the 3rd over after Shami clean bowled Tripathi. Nitish Rana replaced him. The next over, there was a miscommunication between the two batsmen in the middle while taking a single and Nitish Rana had to depart. Eoin Morgan joined Shubman Gill. 

In the first 6 overs, KKR scored just 25 runs which the second.  In the 11 over, Kolkatta lost their third wicket. Ravi Bishnoi bowled a googly. Morgan went for the big shot but instead hit it straight to Maxwell who doesn't miss many catches. 

Morgan played decent innings of 24 runs in 23 balls. After 11 overs Kolkatta was 64/3. They needed to get a move on from here if they wanted to give Punjab something to worry about. 

Dinesh Karthik, the KKR captain came to the crease. In the 15th over, Shubman Gill reached his half-century and KKR was 101/3. KKR needed more and Dinesh Karthik lead by example as a captain. So far in this partnership, Shubnam Gill was the aggressor now Dinesh Karthik got into the act. In the next over he hit Ravi Bishnoi for 3 boundaries. After that, he scored 14 runs off Chris Jordan's over. Wow! this was exactly what KKR wanted.  

In the 18th over, he reached his half-century in 22 balls.  In the same over, due to a mixup while running between the wickets, Shubnam Gill was runout. Soon after that, Andre Russel departed after being caught behind.  KKR finished their innings with 164/6 as Dinesh Karthik ran himself out on the last ball.

KXIP INNINGS

Kings XI started the chase with Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul.  Pat Cummins bowled the first over. In the second over which was bowled by Prasidh Krishna, 

KL Rahul was dropped by Andre Russel who couldn't stop the ball from going for 4 runs. In the process, he hurt himself and had to go off the field. Kings XI finished the first powerplay with 47 on the board with the loss of no wicket. A solid start to their innings.  

They crossed the 100 run mark in the 13th over. KKR had to take some quick wickets now if they wanted to get back in the game. 

Finally some respite for them. In the 15th over, while going for the big shot, Mayank Agarwal didn't connect with the ball as he would have liked and Shubman Gill took an easy catch at deep midwicket. Agarwal played well for his 56 runs in 32 balls. Nicolas Pooran joined KL Rahul in the middle. 

Then in the 17th over, Punjab lost their second wicket  as Sunil Narine clean bowled  Pooran. What an end to this game. In the 18th over, Prasidh Krishna took 2 wickets. First, he took the wicket of Simran Singh and then on the last ball of the over, he got rid of KL Rahul. In the final ball of their innings, Punjab needed 7 runs of 1 ball. Glen Maxwell was at the crease. He connects well with the ball but it lands just inches away from the boundary line. 

It is amazing how things can change in a matter of moments in sports. KXIP looked sure of winning the game but that one over from Prasidh Krishna changed everything. Kings XI Punjab were all out for 162 runs. 

RESULT

Kolkata Knight Riders won the game by a slim margin of 2 runs against Kings XI Punjab. The man of the match for this game was Dinesh Karthik for his 58 of 29 balls.

CONLUSION

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed the game.  This was the best game of IPL 2020 so far.

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