Abu Dhabi - A brilliant bowling display against insipid batting by the Kolkata Knight Riders earned the Kings XI Punjab a well-deserved victory by 23 runs in their Indian Premier League match at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Chasing a modest target of 132/9 after a brilliant display of spin bowling from Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine, KKR began the second innings in prime position, but succumbed to a miserable 109 all out to lose a game they will feel they should have won.
Suryakumar Yadav blasted an impressively improvised 34 from 17 balls to add a veneer of respectability to the KKR total but at 65/7 the game was all but over. Sandeep Sharma collected 3-21 in his four overs and left arm spinner Akshar Patel finished with 2-16 in his full quota.
Piyush Chawla played a leading role for KKR after choosing to bowl first as the KXIP batting line-up simply never fired.
Legspinner Chawla claimed three prominent scalps on his way to figures of 3-19 as the King’s XI batting line-up, featuring the tournament’s leading scorer in Glenn Maxwell and South Africa’s in-form left hander David Miller, struggled for the first time after three emphatic victories.
Jacques Kallis and Morne Morkel also featured prominently in the KKR attack with veteran Kallis trapping No 3 Wriddhiman Saha en route to an analysis of 1-32 while Morkel claimed the prized wicket of Maxwell (15) and held two fine catches in the deep off Chawla’s bowling to remove Miller (14) and George Bailey for 11.
Maxwell briefly threatened to repeat his extraordinary form from the first three games with a trademark switch-hit four and a cover drive against Sunil Narine’s first over which cost 14 but he stepped across a Morkel yorker and lost his leg stump.
Miller and Bailey both mistimed lofted drives into the deep and veteran opener, Virender Sehwag, was utterly beaten by a fine googly which hit the top of middle stump sending him on his way for 37 from 30 balls.
West Indian mystery spinner Narine claimed three wickets in his final over to complete a remarkable analysis of 3-24 from his four overs.