Dubai: Punjab Kings have suffered a few heartbreaking defeats in the final over, but yesterday they held nerves against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Punjab chased down the target of 166 in 19.3 overs with K L Rahul (67 off 55) leading from the front. Shahrukh Khan smashed an important 22 not out off nine balls.
Earlier, Venkatesh Iyer hit a fluent 67 while Nitish Rana produced a fiery 31 off 18 balls before Punjab Kings managed to stop Kolkata Knight Riders at 165 for seven.
Invited to bat, the in-form KKR batsmen controlled the proceedings for a major part of their innings and had it not been some excellent death over spells by Mohammed Shami (1/23) and Arshdeep Singh (3/32), KKR would have got a bigger score on the board.
Iyer and Tripathi (34 off 26 balls) raised a 72-run stand, stroking the ball around with ease. Rana's cameo was also crucial for KKR.
Left-arm pacer Arshdeep has been a top performer for the Punjab side this season and he delivered again by cleaning up Shubhman Gill (7) with a peach of delivery that breached the defence of the batsman in the third over.
Iyer, who has been a revelation this season, continued his good run with some fluent drives on both sides of the wicket despite that the ball was stopping a bit before coming on to the bat.
The batsmen's positive approach and lack of control over the line by the Punjab pacers meant that run-rate kept soaring for KKR.
The partnership was finally broken by spinner Ravi Bishnoi, who had Tripathi caught in the deep. The leg-spinner was also economical ending with figures of two for 22 in four overs. Iyer completed his fifty with a single off Allen and then lofted the West Indian bowler for a six to raise team's hundred in the 13th over.
Two quick wickets fell when Bishnoi got rid of Iyer, who went for a big shot, and Shami trapped rival skipper Eoin Morgan (2), who shuffled a bit towards the off side but missed the line of the dipping ball, catching him in front of the wicket.
Brief scores
KKR 165/7 (V Iyer 67; A Singh 3/32, R Bishnoi 2/22, M Shami 1/23) lost to PK 168/5 (KL Rahul 67; V Chakravarthy 2/24) by five wickets
PointS tally
TEAM M W L PT
CSK 11 9 2 18
DC 11 8 3 16
RCB 11 7 4 14
KKR 12 5 7 10
PBKS 12 5 7 10
MI 11 5 6 10
RR 11 4 7 8
SRH 11 2 9 4
