Kolkata Knight Riders beat Punjab Kings by five wickets in their first game in Ahmedabad to get back to winning ways in IPL 2021. They have ended their four-match losing streak and have moved upto the fifth position in the points table. KKR skipper Eoin Morgan was the architect of this victory first by using his bowlers well and second by scoring timely 47 with the bat. More about the match report in detail below.
Set to chase 124, KKR had a dreadful start losing three wickets inside the powerplay. Nitish Rana was out for a first-ball duck. Shubman Gill yet again failed to get going scoring nine of eight balls. The bad form thus extends for this promising KKR right-hander. Suil Naine then was dismissed by a piece of sheer brilliance on the field from Ravi Bishoi who took a good running catch in the mid-wicket boundary.
Eoin Morgan Leads Kolkata Knight Riders Back To Winning Ways
With KKR tottering at 17 for 3, Eoin Morgan joined Rahul Tripathi as the duo added 66 runs for the fourth wicket and took the KKR score to 17/3 to 83 for 4. After Andre Russell’s brief stay for 10 runs, Dinesh Karthik scored 12 off 6 to finish off the game and hand KKR an important win. Morgan was unbeaten on 47 and won the Man of the Match for his efforts. Punjab Kings taking early wickets kept them in the game but the Morgan-Tripathi partnership brought the match back in KKR’s control.
Earlier in the game, KKR skipper Morgan won the toss and opted to bowl first. All the KKR bowlers bowled well in tandem restricting Punjab Kings to 123/9. Prasidh Krishna took three wickets as Sunil Narine and Pat Cummins took two each. Shivam Mavi took a wicket as well.
KKR won their first game at a new venue. They play Delhi Capitals twice and RCB once again at this venue before they move down to Banglore for their final five games.
Kolkata Knight Riders 126 for 5 (Morgan 47*, Tripathi 41, Henriques 1-5) beat Punjab Kings 123 for 9 (Agarwal 31, Jordan 30, Krishna 3-30, Narine 2-22) by five wickets
