Andre Russell scored a quickfire 42 as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Punjab Kings in a last ball thriller at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Monday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Prabhsimran Singh got Punjab off to a good start by taking on Vaibhav Arora for three fours in the first over. However the former (12) was dismissed by caught behind the stumps off Harshit Rana.
Left hander Bhanuka Rajapaksa fell in Harshit’s next over for a duck. Liam Livingstone stay at the crease was short as he was trapped leg before wicket by Varun Chakravarthy for a 9 ball-15.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan reached his well deserved fifty by sweeping Sunil Narine for a maximum. However the Punjab Kings skipper miscued a delivery from Nitish Rana to Arora at long on for a fine 57.
Rishi Dhawan (19), Shahrukh Khan (21*) and Harpreet Brar (17*) scored some handy runs down the order to take his side to a competitive total of 179/7 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 180, KKR openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Jason Roy got their side off to a steady start. The duo put on 38 runs for the opening wicket before the former was trapped leg before wicket by a slower delivery from Nathan Ellis for 15.
Harpreet Brar then got into the act by dismissing the well set Jason Roy (38), caught at deep midwicket by Shahrukh Khan.
The pair of Nitish Rana along with Venkatesh Iyer steadied the ship with a valuable 51 run stand for the third wicket before the latter miscued a googly off Rahul Chahar to Livingstone at long off.
Rana fell soon after, mistiming a switch hit off Chahar for 51. With 26 needed off 12 balls, Russell smacked Sam Curran for the three sixes to bring the equation to down to 6 off the final over.
The West Indies all rounder was run out in the final over off the penultimate ball, with Kolkata still needing 2 off the final ball. However Rinku Singh held his nerve by smashing Arshdeep Singh for a boundary to give Knight Riders a famous win.
Kolkata Knight Riders 182 for 5 (Nitish 51, Russell 42, Roy 38, Chahar 2-23) beat Punjab Kings 179 for 7 (Dhawan 57, Varun 3-26, Harshit 2-33) by five wickets