Kolkata

After Nitish Rana's half-century and blitz in the final two overs by Andre Russell and Rinku Singh guided Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a 5-wicket win over Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens, here on Monday.

The win took KKR to fifth on the table and got a new life to their challenge for a playoff spot. On the other hand, Punjab Kings will be deflated with that loss and it is a big blow to their chances of making it through to the playoffs.

After Shikhar Dhawan's fifty, Shahrukh Khan and Harpreet Brar's blitz in the final two overs powered Punjab Kings (PBKS) to 179/7.

In reply, KKR opening duo Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Jason Roy came out with intent and the latter just blew away the opposition bowlers. After Rana's 51 off 38 and Russell's quickfire (42 off 23), Rinku (21 off 10) provided a fine finish with a boundary to clinch a thriller.

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 did 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 lost a couple of quick wickets to hand 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 continued hitting boundaries. Venkatesh looked to break the shackles but it did not come off as Rahul Chahar trapped him on a slower ball. 

With KKR needing 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 for a run out.

Then, Rinku yet again finished things off and took KKR over the line with a boundary off the final ball.

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Earlier, opting to bat first, PBKS helped by a half-century from skipper Dhawan set KKR a target of 180.