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Morgan finds form as KKR end losing streak, defeat Punjab Kings by five wickets

Morgan finds form as KKR end losing streak, defeat Punjab Kings by five wickets

Morgan finds form as KKR end losing streak, defeat Punjab Kings by five wickets (Photo: IPL)

Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday ended their four-match losing streak by defeating Punjab Kings by six wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. KKR now have two wins in six matches in IPL 2021 as they move a spot up from the bottom of the table.

After being invited to bat first, Punjab Kings were off to a watchful start but lost skipper Rahul (19) just before the end of the powerplay. Shivam Mavi was quick to remove Chris Gayle for a golden duck after KKR before Sunil Narine and Prasidh Krishna stuck to remove Mayank Agarwal and Deepak Hooda respectively.

Moises Henriques was also sent packing for two as Narine used his experience to fire a quicker delivery to the Aussie. The likes of Nicholas Pooran (19), Shahrukh Khan (13) added a few handy runs to save PBKS from humiliation.

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However, it was Chris Jordan who smashed 30 off 18 to take the Punjab outfit to a respectable total of 123/9 in 20 overs.

“The pitch is definitely keeping low, that's how it started and didn't come on well to the bat. In the last ten overs, dew really starting setting in and there's a lot of dew. It was really tough to grip the ball, few balls were slipping and we had to dry the ball each and every ball,” Varun Chakaravarthy told the host broadcasters during the mid-innings break.

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Chasing 124, Kolkata Knight Riders were off to a shaky start as they lost openers Nitish Rana (0) and Shubman Gill (9) for cheap. Sunil Narine, sent to bat at number four, was also sent packing for a four-ball duck. However, skipper Eoin Morgan found some form with the willow and stitched a partnership with Rahul Tripathi to steady the chase. KKR lost Andre Russel after a miscommunication with Morgan. But the southpaw, along with Dinesh Karthik, finished the match for KKR.

Even though it wasn’t an explosive chase by any means, KKR made sure they left the baggage of defeat behind and start the Ahmedabad leg with a much-needed win.