Sunil Narine, Prasidh Krishna pull off heist against Kings XI Punjab
Kings XI Punjab choke at finale of 165 chase after being 144 for 1
Kings XI Punjab choke at finale of 165 chase after being 144 for 1
Scorer: Venkat Raghav | Commentator: Sidharth Monga
Pooran and Narine sitting at the edge of the boundary. The victor and the vanquished having a chat. Pooran looks distraught. It was his shot that started the procession. It was off Narine, the champion T20 player. Pooran could become one one day. He has all the makings of it. Today, though, he ended up on the losing side. The games are coming thick and fast, and I will let you switch to the other one. This is all from me. Thanks for joining us
Dinesh Karthik, also the Man of the Match: "The way Rahul and Mayank batted, we thught we needed to so something really special to come back into the game. With Sunny and Varun there, and Prasidh bowling the way he has done in his first game... McCullum has been encouraging me to bat higher in the order, but I am looking at what the team needs. I have to give him credit for keeping me in this space. Whenever Russell gets injured, you know it is hard. He is a very special player, he is a very special person. We need to go and look at him. Prasidh is special. The way he came back and bowled in the second spell shows how good he is. Sunil Narine stands up for us a lot of time. He is calm. He is always looking to find the best way to contribute to the team. Not only Sunil, a lot of credit needs to be given to Morgan and McCullum. I am very lucky to have the world's best captain by results in my side."
Sunil Narine: "When the last ball went up in the air, I thought I was going to bowl full and wide, I bowled full and wide, but then I thought I had made a mistake. It is not ideal [for me to bowling at the death] but someone has to do that. I am used to doing it in the past. Inside the pulse is racing, but this calm is just how I am."
KL Rahul: "I have no answers. We just need to keep coming harder in the next seven games. We bowled really really well. This was a fresh strip so we didn't know what were good lines and lengths. And the bowlers adjusted really well. And they were brave at the death too. Don't think we were satisfied at any stage in the chase. You are satisfied only when you win the game. Towards the end, we kept losing wickets, and couldn't get us over the line."
And what of Kolkata. The value of hanging in. They lost Russell's bowling, they were down and out, the pitch improved visibly, but they kept hanging in. And when given a window, they barged through thanks to that champion T20 bowler, Sunil Narine. The heart he had to hang those offbreaks in the air. What a bowler
The sorcerers of Kolkata do it again. With a little help from KL Rahul and KXIP leadership. Questions will again be asked of Rahul's effort. He was cautious presumably because of a brittle middle order, but was he too cautious? And Pooran's shot the first time he faced Narine. And Prabhsimran's promotion ahead of Maxwell and a subsequent 7-ball 4
SidB: "I can't believe Kumble isn't sitting KL down and asking him to stop with this nonsense of playing at a SR of 120 and bat through the innings, especially when you have players like Pooran and Maxi waiting in the wings and cooling their heels. KL needs to realise that leadership isn't only about taking responsibility yourself but empowering others as well"
Right. Maxwell on strike. Needs to hit a six to take this into the Super Over. Will he look to switch-hit? Long chat between Narine and Morgan. Jordan is the new man in, but it doesn't matter. He is not on strike. Maxwell has got rid of his helmet
Mandeep Singh c sub (CJ Green) b Narine 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0
Mandeep on strike. What does he do?
What sorcery is this? Are KKR going to pull another out of the hat? Mandeep Singh and Maxwell in the middle. Neither has faced a delivery yet. They need to score 14 off the last over. Narine is to bowl it
Kings XI Punjab could do with quicker runs - and not more runs - from their captain
The Knight Riders spinner can continue bowling, but another report would lead to suspension
And have Kolkata Knight Riders finally found their No. 4? More on talking points
Kings XI Punjab choke at finale of 165 chase after being 144 for 1
ESPNcricinfo's updates from the 24th match of IPL 2020, in Abu Dhabi