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The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) etched a last-ball win over the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Eden Gardens on Monday, May 8.
PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and opted to bat first. Opening batter Prabhsimran Singh failed to impress yet again as the side proceeded to lose three wickets in the powerplay.
Shikhar Dhawan held one end with a composed knock, while other batters chipped in with handy cameos. PBKS notched 40 runs off their last three overs, courtesy of fireworks from Shahrukh Khan and Harpreet Brar to end with 179/7 in the first innings.
In response, Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz put on 38 runs for the opening wicket as skipper Nitish Rana walked in at No.3 and compiled a solid fifty. Venkatesh Iyer struggled in the middle order, but KKR never let the required rate go quite out of hand.
The finishing job was handled by Andre Russell and Rinku Singh in the death overs. The Caribbean all-rounder hit three sixes in the penultimate over off Sam Curran to leave only six runs for the final over. Rinku Singh held his nerve to finish off the game for KKR as they secured a crucial five-wicket win to remain alive in the tournament.
IPL 2023 Orange Cap updated list
Shikhar Dhawan top-scored for PBKS in the first innings with 57 runs off 47 deliveries before losing his wicket to Nitish Rana in the 15th over. The PBKS skipper has 349 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 143.62 to hold the ninth rank in the list of highest run-scorers.
Rinku Singh chipped in with a valuable cameo at the death during the run chase. He scored 21 runs off 10 deliveries to steer KKR to victory off the final ball of the match. The uncapped player now has 337 runs in the campaign at a strike rate of 151 and is ranked 10 on the run chart.
Faf du Plessis is the leading run-scorer of IPL 2023 with 511 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 157. He holds the Orange Cap with a 34-run lead over the second-placed Yashasvi Jaiswal.
IPL 2023 Purple Cap updated list
Varun Chakravarthy continued his fine run of form and once again had a say in the proceedings at the Eden Gardens. The mystery spinner chipped in with the wickets of Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma, and Rishi Dhawan to end with figures of 3/26 off his four overs. He has taken 17 wickets in IPL 2023 so far and is ranked fifth on the wickets chart.
Arshdeep Singh bowled a tight final over and dragged the contest to the final delivery, but his efforts were not enough. The left-arm pacer ended up with figures of 0-39 off his four overs and has 16 wickets to hold the seventh rank in the Purple Cap standings.
Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan occupy the top two spots on the list with 19 wickets each, with the former holding the Purple Cap due to a superior economy rate.
