56 needed from 29 deliveries. Andre Russell and Rinku Singh at the crease.
On Monday night at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata's old and new 'finishers' combined forces to enthral the home fans and guided the team to a 5 wicket victory over Punjab Kings that helped them collect two vital points and stay alive in this IPL 2023 season.
The win takes KKR to the fifth position in the points table, with 10 points, while Punjab are also on 10 points but occupy the seventh spot due to their poor net run rate.
Shikhar Dhawan had won the toss and elected to bat first and the Punjab skipper scored a fifty, while Shahrukh Khan and Harpreet Brar's blitz in the final two overs powered Punjab Kings (PBKS) to 179/7.
The story was very similar in the chase with Kolkata's skipper Nitish Rana smashing a half-century and then Andre Russell and Rinku Singh hitting some big runs in the final two overs to guide the team to their fifth win of the season.
Shikhar Scored Fifty in Punjab's Innings
Opting to bat first, PBKS were off to a strong start with opening duo Prabhsimran Singh and Dhawan collecting runs through boundaries. Harshit Rana struck early in the second over to dismiss Prabhsimran.
Prabhsimran charged a length ball to swat it over the leg side but he got a top edge and the ball went high to the right of Rahmatullah Gurbaz behind the stumps.
Harshit trapped his second victim in the form of Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who played an aggressive cover drive on the front foot but edged it behind and Gurbaz was quick to pouch it safely as Punjab were reduced to 32/2.
Then, Livingstone took Andre Russell to the cleaners, smashing him for four boundaries before falling in the next over off the bowling of Chakravarthy.
Livingstone was squared up on the back foot, missed the defence and was hit on the back leg. The umpire has no doubts about that one. PBKS have reviewed it immediately but the projection showed the ball clipping the bails. PBKS were 58/3 at the end of the Power-play.
KKR bowlers slowed down the innings a bit with just three big boundaries coming in the next four overs and Punjab were 82/3 halfway through the innings.
With the pressure building up, Jitesh Sharma cleared the front leg and played a slog sweep towards deep mid-wicket for a maximum. Then, Dhawan employed a reverse sweep and placed it well wide of the fielder at backward point for a boundary.
In the next over, the PBKS skipper hammered two successive boundaries, taking 11 runs off the over. Chakravarthy struck again in the 13th over to get rid of Jitesh for 21, breaking the 53-run stand and PBKS were four down.
Shikhar shuffled outside off to get in line and swept it flat over deep square-leg for six to bring up a 41-ball half-century. But soon after bringing his third fifty of the season, the PBKS skipper headed back to the pavilion.
Rana did the trick for his side. The Kolkata skipper puts his hand up this time and has the final laugh and got rid of the Punjab captain.
After Shikhar Dhawan's dismissal, Rishi Dhawan was playing a bit of a blinder to add crucial runs on the board but Chakravarthy got him in the last over of his spell to claim his third. The next over Suyash removed Sam Curran cheaply for 4.
Harpreet and Shahrukh collected three boundaries off the penultimate over, taking 15 runs to come off it. Then, the latter started the last over with a six over the bowler's head and followed that up with two successive boundaries. Then, Harpreet smoked it a long way over the mid-wicket fence for a maximum. The duo added crucial 36 runs in the last two overs as able to get 179 runs on the board.
Kolkata's Chase
Chasing 180, KKR had a steady start with just 10 runs in the first two overs. The shackles were broken when both Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Jason Roy hammered Arshdeep Singh for 16 runs off the fourth over.
The slower one from Nathan Ellis does the trick in the next over as he produced a back-of-the-hand slower ball to get rid of Gurbaz. Skipper Nitish Rana and Roy took the Power-play total to 52/1.
Roy hit consecutive boundaries at the end of the seventh over. He looked to continue with his momentum but Harpreet Brar made an instant impact as he got rid of the English batter, who was looking to be in incredible form.
Roy went for a big sweep to deep mid-wicket but did not get the desired distance on it and Shahrukh Khan in the deep completed an easy catch. Kolkata was going along nicely but has lost a couple of quick wickets and this has handed the advantage to Punjab.
After two quiet overs, Rana hit the paddle and smashed two boundaries and a maximum to pace up the run-chase. The KKR skipper started continued hitting boundaries. Venkatesh looked to break the shackles but it doesn't come off ad Rahul Chahar trapped him on a slower ball.
Rana completed his fifth with a double but could not complete the job for his side as he holed out on the next after making his half-century. He played a reverse sweep taking the aerial route but miscued it towards deep covers where Liam Livingstone took a stunning sliding catch.
With needed 51 off 24, the onus shifted on Andre Russell and Rinku Singh to take KKR over the line. Russell hit a boundary on the first of the 17th over then Rinku smoked it over the square leg fence for a six, taking 15 off the over.
With two boundaries coming off the 18th over, the equation reached 26 needed in two overs. Russell smacked back-to-back maximums in the penultimate over. After a dot ball, he went for another six and finished the over with a single, leaving 6 runs for the final over to win.
Arshdeep Singh started well in the final over with a dot and a couple of singles followed by a double and two were needed in two balls.
The drama continued as Russell tried to steal a bye and Jitesh Sharma was smart to lob it over the stumps to Arshdeep, who waited, then throw it at the nonstriker's end and the batter had to return back to the hut.
Then, Rinku yet again finished things off and took KKR over the line with a boundary off the final ball.
(With inputs from IANS)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)