IPL 2020: KKR beat KXIP by 2 runs in last over thriller

Prasidh Krishna, who played his first game of IPL 2020 on Saturday, and Sunil Narine helped KKR register their second successive wins of the season. With this thrilling win, KKR went up to the third position with 8 points from six matches on the points ladder.

Abu Dhabi: A brilliant 115-run partnership built by captain KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal went in vain as Kings XI Punjab lost Saturday's thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders by 2 runs here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. A magnificent turnaround effected by Prasidh Krishna, who played his first game of the season on Saturday, and Sunil Narine helped KKR register their second successive wins in IPL 2020. With this thrilling win, KKR went up to the third position with 8 points from six matches on IPL 2020 points ladder. This was KXIP's fifth consecutive defeats. They now stand at the bottom of the points table.

In reply to KKR's 164 for 6, Rahul and Agarwal made a merry against Kolkata bowlers to score 115 in 15 overs.

Agarwal scored 56 off 39 balls to gather 337 runs from seven matches in the ongoing season. With this run tally, he stands at the second position behind his teammate Rahul, who at present holds the coveted Orange Cap with 387 runs from seven matches. Agarwal hit six fours and a six to decorate his innings before felling perry to Prasidh Krishna.

Prasidh Krishna, the hero of KKR's 2 runs win over KXIP on Saturday.

After his dismissal, Rahul shifted the gear of his innings to score a quickfire 74 off 58 balls. Initially, Rahul took time to settle down and allowed Agarwal to play his natural shots. Once he was dismissed, Rahul played a few exquisite shots.

But KKR made a turnaround against the pace of the game after dismissing Agarwal. They dismissed five wickets in a span of five overs to make things tight for KXIP. In the last over, KXIP were required 14 to win the game. They could score 11 as Glenn Maxwell's skier just fell an inch or two short off the boundary rope. Sunil Narine executed the task very well taking the wicket of Mandeep Singh.

Prasidh Krishna was the man who did the most important work taking the vital wickets of Agarwal, Rahul and Simran Singh in the death overs that derailed KXIP's innings.

Earlier, KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and opted to bat first. However, they didn't have the best of the start as they lost make-shift opener, Rahul Tripathi, in the third over when they were reeling at 12. Kings XI Punjab pacer Mohammed Shami uprooted Tripathi's stumps.

Sunil Narine successfully defended 14 runs in the last over.

In the fourth over again they lost Nitish Rana under a peculiar situation as both Rana and opener Shubman Gill ended up finishing at the same end. It was a soft dismissal for KKR that had almost cost KKR dearly. Eoin Morgan too couldn't do much as Ravi Bishnoi got him caught by Glenn Maxwell for 24.

With KKR reeling at 63 for 3, Gill and captain Dinesh Karthik shifted the gear to change the momentum of KKR's innings. The Gill-Karthik duo started slowly, taking singles but pummelled KXIP bowlers when required to collect important runs.

They soon changed the gear and forged an 82-run partnership to pull KKR's decaying innings out of danger zone. Gill scored 57 off 47 balls before getting run out. He laced his innings with five fours. On the other hand, captain Karthik, for the first time in the IPL 2020, made some significant contributions to his team, playing a quickfire 58 runs knock off 29 balls.

Dinesh Karthik scored 58 off 29 balls.

Karthik, who was once batting at 13 off 8, hit seven boundaries and two sixes to help KKR set 165 runs target for KXIP. Karthik was especially brutal on Mujeeb Ur Rahman as the right-hander dispatched the Afghan spinner for sixes and fours at ease. Karthik was finally run out in the 20th over.

KKR will play their next game against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday.