Kings XI Punjab 9-157 (Manpreeet Gony 42, Mandeep Singh 41, Jacques Kallis 3-24) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 9-153 (Gautam Gambhir 60, Eoin Morgan 47, Azhar Mahmood 3-21) by four runs.
A late assault from Manpreet Gony followed by his economical bowling spell led Kings XI Punjab to a victory against Kolkata Knight Riders in a close encounter.
Kings XI Punjab amassed 157 runs with one wicket still in hand at the end of the measured 20 overs and Kolkata Knight Riders scored 153 for the loss of nine wickets.
Manpreet Gony (Kings XI Punjab) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his brilliant all round performance.
The 20th match of the Indian Premier League was played on Tuesday, April 16, 2013, at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir won the toss for Kolkata Knight Riders and offered the batting to the home team. The skipper of Kings XI Punjab, Adam Gilchrist, came in to bat with Mandeep Singh who was in great mood and hit 3 fours in the initial three overs as the first got one. Gilchrist was gone for seven and was replaced by Manan Vohra who carried on clicking the score board with Mandeep Singh, assisted by regular boundaries. The score was taken to 61 in 8.4 overs when Vohra was caught and bowled by Lakshmipathy Balaji for 17. Mandeep Singh did not last long either and was caught behind by Manvinder Bisla off Sachithra Senanayake for 41 from 30 balls with 6 fours.
The bowlers of Kolkata Knight Riders came into their rhythm as Sunil Narine registered the first hat-trick of the IPL 2013 in the 15th over. He got rid of David Hussey, Azhar Mahmood and Gurkeet Singh for 12, 0 and 0 runs and Kings XI Punjab was reeling at 6-99. Manpreet Gony played a gem of an innings with a little assistance from the other side and took his team to a safe position. Gony blasted 42 off just 18 deliveries that comprised 3 giant sixes and 4 fours as Kings XI Punjab thrashed 157 after losing nine wickets in 20 overs.
Jacques Kallis and Sunil Narine were the prominent bowlers with three wickets each, Sachithra Senanayake held two whereas Lakshmipathy Balaji secured one wicket.
Kolkata Knight Riders had a horrible start by losing the important wickets of Manvinder Bisla and Jacques Kallis at just two runs. Eoin Morgan joined in with Gautam Gambhir who hit two consecutive fours in the third over and they added 26 runs in the next and fourth over with 4 boundaries. Gambhir dispatched another 3 back to back fours in the seventh over and Morgan continued enhancing at his end. The hundred of the innings appeared on board in the 13th over as Gambhir was caught behind by Adam Gilchrist off Manpreet Gony for 60 from just 39 balls with 9 fours.
The fourth wicket was lost at 106 and Eoin Morgan followed him 10 runs later for 47 off 38 deliveries with 6 fours. The middle and lower order batting collapsed while trying to get speedy runs and Kolkata Knight Riders reached 153 with one wicket remaining after the last ball of the 20th over was bowled.
Azhar Mahmood was the highest wicket taker with three, Praveen Kumar and Parvinder Awana shared two each whereas Manpreet Gony got one.
Kings XI Punjab won the tense encounter by a narrow margin of just four runs and took their points to four in even games.
Leave a Reply