Mumbai: Led by Umesh Yadav, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) overpowered a strong Punjab Kings (PBKS) batting line-up with a sensational display of fast bowling in an IPL match here at Wankhede Stadium on Friday. The Punjab side scored a paltry 137 runs against KKR.
Umesh Yadav removed four Punjab Kings' wickets whereas Tim Southee snared a couple along with Shivam Mavi dismissing one batter. Sunil Narine too took a wicket.
For PBKS, Bhanuka Rajapaksa top-scored with a quickfire 31 from 9 balls while Kagiso Rabada led the fireworks in the end with a 16 ball 25.
In Rajapaksa's brief stay in the middle, the top-order batter hammered three fours and as many sixes, mostly towards the mid-wicket region, leaving the spectators in awe.
His breathtaking effort was perhaps the lone bright in an otherwise underwhelming innings.
With heavy dew setting in later half of the games, fielding first has become a no-brainer this IPL and KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer called it right at the toss.
Punjab, which had successfully chased 200 plus in their opening game, enjoyed a good powerplay that yielded 62 for 3 in six overs.
Veteran pacer Umesh, who had played only two games overs the past two seasons due to his inconsistent run in shortest format has been proving his critics wrong this season.
He once again provided the breakthrough early in the game, removing opposition skipper Mayank Agarwal, who was found plumb in front after missing a rather straight and full delivery in the first over of the match.
Iyer impressed with his leadership. He brought back Umesh in the middle overs to ensure there was no fightback from Punjab. He also employed a slip in the 15th over and was rewarded for that with the wicket of Rahul Chahar.
His new ball partner Tim Southee and KKR's retained spinners Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine were also too good for the Punjab batters.
Liam Livingstone (19 off 16) could convert his start while India U-19 star Raj Angad Bawa found the going tough for the second game in a row.
Kagisa Rabada (25 off 16), playing his first game of the seasons, saved Punjab the blushes by getting much needed boundaries to take the total close to 140.
Brief Scores: PBKS: 137/10, Bhanuka Rajapaksa - 31, KKR: Umesh Yadav - 4/23
With agencies
