And Kolkata Knight Riders have won this game by 5 runs. What a finish and what a game we had. Rinku Singh hits four on the last and takes his side home yet another time. Russell contributed well and set it uo with his three sixes in the 19th over. Thanks for joining.
Arshdeep to Russell, Ball 1 - dot ball
Arshdeep to Russell, Ball 2 - 1 run. Rinku on strike
Arshdeep to Rinku, Ball 3 - 1 run, full toss but straight to deep square leg
Arshdeep to Russell, Ball 4 - 2 runs, 2 needed off 2 balls now
Arshdeep to Russell, Ball 5 - Russell run out. 2 needed off 1
Arshdeep to Rinku, Ball 6 - 4 runs. KKR win. Rinku does it again
Due to that over, only 6 runs are now needed in the final over of the game
Andre Russell is batting alongside Rinku and is looking to take KKR home. He has hit 3 sixes in Sam Curran's penultimate over. 26 were needed off 12 balls and Russell smoked three out of the park.
Nitish Rana has taken the aggrssive route. He has hit Livingstone for 2 fours and a six in the 11th over. 16 of that over and KKR need 88 more in 54 balls.
We are halfway into the chase and KKR are 76/2. They have lost Jason Roy as well in the first half of the chase. Hapreet Brar got the better of the KKR opener in the 7th over. Nitish Rana and Venkatesh are in the middle.
And KKR are one down inside the first 5 overs. Nathan Ellis has struck and has got Gurbaz out LBW. KKR are at 39/1 after 5 overs and Nitish Rana has came to join Roy now. Venkatesh will come later as he was off the field due to an ankle issue for some time.
KKR openers Jason Roy and Gurbaz are in the middle and they look for a solid start.
And Punjab Kings have finished at 179/7 in their 20 overs. This is a good finish after losing way in the middle.
Another fifty for Shikhar Dhawan. A 41-ball half century for PBKS skipper and he is anchoring the team's batting. And Dhawan falls. He has gifted this to Nitish. He came down the ground and tried clearing the long-on but not proper connection and is caught out.
Here's the breakthrough. Chakaravarthy gets Jitesh out caught behind and a good reflex catch by Gurbaz.
Punjab are going well at the moment. They have made 104/3 after 12 overs. Dhawan is on 46 and is well set for a fifty
We are about halfway stage in the first innings. PBKS are at 79/3 after 9 overs. It's time-out in the game
And the big fish Livingstone now departs. He has been given LBW and PBKS review but it's umpire's call on hitting
And Harshit has made another strike. This time he gets Bhanuka Rajapaksa caught behind. Full and wide outside off, Bhanuka has a big drive but did not play in line of the ball. Gurbaz takes this on the first attempt this time.
Harshit Rana strikes and has got the wicket of Prabhsimran. Good catch by Gurbaz behind the wickets. It came fast at him and he juggled it on the first attempt and took it on rebound. Punjab lose an early here.
Punjab openers Prabhsimran and Dhawan are in the middle and they look for a good start. Vaibhav Arora to start for KKR with a wide slip in place. In IPL 2023, Prabhsimran has made his mark. He has made 219 runs in 10 games. Average of 21.90 and Strike rate of 152.08. Best score 60. Dhawan has made 196 runs in 7 matches and has an average of 58.40. He has struck at 148.98 and has 2 fifties, including that unbeaten 99.
Matches Played - 31
Won by PBKS - 11
Won by KKR - 20
Nathan Ellis, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide, Mohit Rathee and Matthew Short
Jason Roy, L Ferguson, N Jagadeesan, K Khejroliya and Anukul Roy
Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakaravarthy
It looks to be on the drier side. We are going with the same team that we played in the last game. We wanted to bat first so that spin can come into play more.
Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan(c), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
We will be batting first. The surface looks quite dry and we would like to put a good total on it and later defend it. It's a good thing that we are scoring 200. One change, Bhanuka comes in place of Short. It looks like it will stop a bit and come.
Punjab have won the toss and they will be batting first. Big change for Punjab. Bhanuka comes in for Short. No changes for KKR.
Punjab have not won two consecutive games after their win in their first two matches of the tournament. They are in the 10-point jam and need a win to break into the top 4.
Kolkata's top order has been a center point of debate. They have regularly chopped their openers and Jason Roy now seems to be the fix they needed. The middle order has made a few contributions as well and Russell scored some runs in the previous game. They have power in their spin attack with Suyash and Varun leading the way. But the fast bowling look toothless.
The venue of the match is Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The dimensions of the ground are small in size and the batters enjoy playing here. The average winning score in IPL 2023 is 222. There is some turn for the spinners but not enough to damage the batters' party.
KKR's squad:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Nitish Rana (c), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Shardul Thakur, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Anukul Roy, Suyash Sharma, N Jagadeesan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Mandeep Singh, Tim Southee, David Wiese, Umesh Yadav, Aarya Desai
PBKS squad:
Shikhar Dhawan (c), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Prabhsimran Singh, Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rishi Dhawan, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, Sikandar Raza, Atharva Taide, Mohit Rathee, Shivam Singh, Kagiso Rabada, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Baltej Singh, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Gurnoor Brar
Hello and a warm welcome to everyone for the live coverage of the 53rd match of IPL 2023. It's Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens. Two teams looking for wins and are separated by only 2 points after playing the same number of games. KKR have 4 wins in 10 games, while PBKS have 5 in 10 outings. KKR need a win to stay in contention for the safe '16' number, while PBKS have a one-match room for the magic number. So, sit back in your comfort as I Varun Malik, take you across this game.
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