SKIPPER Eoin Morgan steadied things after early jitters in run-chase as Kolkata Knight Riders ended their four-match losing streak with an easy five-wicket win over Punjab Kings on Monday (26).
Lead by Prasidh Krishna's spell of three for 30, Kolkata restricted Punjab to 123 for 9 before Morgan took them home in 16.4 overs with his unbeaten 47 off 40 balls. Pat Cummins (2 for 31) and Sunil Narine (2 for 22) too bowled brilliantly with Shivam Mavi (1 for 13) bowling an astounding 15 dot balls in his spell.
With the win, Kolkata are now placed fifth while Punjab slipped to the sixth position. Chasing a modest target, Kolkata got off to a shaky start as they lost three wickets for 17 runs inside three overs. But Morgan along with Rahul Tripathi put up a 66-run partnership off 48 balls to take Kolkata closer home.
In the last 10 overs, Kolkata needed 48 runs when Tripathi fell after an impressive 32-ball 41. Andre Russell walked back after 15 runs, but after that Morgan Dinesh Karthik ensured there were no more further damage.
Earlier, Mavi tied things down with the new ball, by bowling 15 dot balls in his four overs on the trot, before Cummins and Prasidh got into the act by sharing five wickets between them at the death.
The Kolkata pace trio removed the top three KL Rahul (19), Chris Gayle (0) and Deepak Hooda (1) in the space of 12 balls for six runs to leave Punjab reeling in the first 10 overs. In the middle overs the Punjab batsmen had the added pressure of handling Narine and Varun Chakravarthy (1 for 24) who further dented their progress.
Prasidh had the best figures as he ended Chris Jordan's 18-ball 30 cameo, which took Punjab's total past the 120-run mark. Mavi capped a fine spell by dismissing Chris Gayle for a duck.
KL Rahul perished while trying to break free against Cummins in the final over of the Powerplay. Deepak Hooda (1) got out to a stunning low catch by Morgan as Punjab had a terrible start, losing three wickets in 12 balls for six runs. Amid falling wickets, opener Mayank Agarwal scored 31 off 34 balls.
Sensing the opportunity, Morgan brought in Narine and he dismissed Agarwal and Moises Henriques in successive overs to dent them further.
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