IPL 2021: Captain Eoin Morgan raises his hand, finally

Ahmedabad, April 26

Kolkata Knight Riders finally managed to put up a good all-round show to beat Punjab Kings by five wickets in the 21st match of IPL-14 here tonight.

In the first IPL match at the Narendra Modi Stadium, KKR restricted Punjab to 123/9 and then chased down the total for the loss of five wickets, with 3.2 overs remaining. Their second win takes KKR to four points, the same as three other teams.

KKR captain Eoin Morgan, who has had a wretched run of form in recent times, calmed the nerves in the camp as he took the team to victory with an unbeaten 40-ball 47, with four fours and two sixers. KKR had a bad start with Nitish Rana (0), Shubman Gill (9) and Sunil Narine (0) falling early, leaving the team at 17/3 in three overs. Rahul Tripathi counter-attacked with 41 off 32 balls, adding 66 runs with Morgan. When Tripathi fell, KKR needed 41 off 54 balls, a relatively easy task, and Morgan ensured they got there.

Top bowling effort

Punjab had been restricted to a paltry 123/9 by KKR, who had suffered four defeats on the trot in Chennai and Mumbai. The bottom-placed KKR’s bowlers were both stingy and deadly, Prasidh Krishna leading the wicket-takers with 3/30 in his four overs, while the young Shivam Mavi conceded only 13 runs in four overs as he picked up a wicket. — TNS, agencies

Brief scores: PK: 123/9 (Agarwal 31; Krishna 3/30, Narine 2/22); KKR: 126/5 in 16.4 overs (Morgan 47*, Tripathi 41).