SHARJAH:Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured a win by 4 wickets in the last over thanks to Shakib Al Hasan’s 8 runs off 5 balls. Sunil Narine’s all-round performance with the bat and ball secured a win for KKR chasing a modest Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) total of 138 runs and reaching the target with 2 balls remaining.
RCB winning the toss decided to bat first. Although Padikkal & Kohli put together 49 runs for the opening partnership, the middle order lost its way due to Narine’s star class bowling. He ended up with 4 for 21 runs taking the prize wickets of Kohli, Maxwell, Bharat and A B De Villiers. RCB scored 138 for 7 wickets with Kohli top scoring for challengers (39 off 33 balls).
KKR chasing the modest total of 138 faced a mid-innings crisis losing two quick wickets in the 4th & 5th over due to Harshal Patel bowling at his best. He took 2 wickets for 20 runs off his 4 overs.
KKR Openers S.Gill (29 runs) and V. Iyer (26 runs) batted well putting up an opening partnership of 41 runs. However due to fall of quick wickets in the middle of the innings KKR were 79 for 3 wickets in the 10th over. Sunil Narine contribution with the bat of 26 runs off 15 balls was vital to ensure KKR moves to the qualifier 2. Y Chahal bowled well for RCB with 2 wickets for 16 runs off his 4 overs. Narine was named the man of the match. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will play against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Qualifier 2 on 13th October in Sharjah. (RZ)
