Twitter Reactions: Kolkata Knight Riders in the top four after beating Kings in the run fest

The Kings XI Punjab suffered their second defeat at the venue in Indore this season. They were outplayed by the visiting Kolkata Knight Riders camp in the game. Coming in to the game, both sides knew the importance of the match. A win for either of the side would have strengthened their claims for the playoffs. After the end result, the KKR camp have moved to the top four in the points table. They successfully defended 245 in the game without much trouble on offer from the hosts.

Earlier in the game, the Kings XI Punjab had won the toss and opted to bowl first. The decision of Ravichandran Ashwin did not look very impressive as the Kolkata Knight Riders openers, Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine, put on 53 runs for the first wicket. After Lynn’s dismissal on 27, Sunil Narine found support from Robin Uthappa who scored another key 24. The star of the innings was Sunil Narine though.

He smashed a quick 75 off just 36 deliveries with 9 fours and 4 sixes. After his dismissal, Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik joined the run fest. Russell clobbered 31 off 14 balls and Dinesh Karthik scored a 22-ball fifty. Towards the end, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, and Javon Searles all contributed with quick runs to take the KKR total to 245/6 in 20 overs. For the Kings XI Punjab, Andrew Tye bagged his second four wicket haul of the season. He returned with figures of 4/41 in the match.

In the run chase, the Kings XI Punjab had a decent start with KL Rahul and Chris Gayle looking in good touch. However, once the wicket of Gayle fell in the 6th over, KL Rahul started running out of partners. Rahul continued to bat in his sublime form and scored a fifty in 22 balls. Rahul finished with 66 to his name in 29 balls with 2 fours and 7 sixes.

Later in the game, Aaron Finch (34) tried to get things back on track for the hosts. But the ask was a little too much to overhaul. Ravichandran Ashwin also chipped in with a late 22-ball 45 to take the total past the 200-run mark. The Kings eventually fell short by 31 runs and finished with 214/8 in their stipulated 20 overs.

Here is how the Twitterverse reacted to the match:

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