Varun Chakravarthy continued his fantastic run with three vital wickets as Kolkata Knight Riders put up a tidy bowling present to limit Punjab Kings to a below-par 179 for seven of their must-win IPL match in Kolkata on Monday. On a day Sunil Narine (4-0-29-0) was first rate however went wicketless but once more, Chakravarthy relished the sluggish nature of the monitor the place the odd ball was gripping to return with wonderful figures of 4-0-26-3 after PBKS opted to bat.

It would have been worse for PBKS however the duo of Shahrukh Khan (21 not out; 8b) and Harpreet Brar (17 not out; 9b) brilliantly stepped it up within the final two overs that yielded 36 runs in a 40-run unbroken stand that got here off simply 16 balls.

Fresh from his final over heroics when he defended 9 runs towards Sunrisers Hyderabad, Chakravarthy eliminated the Punjab’s in-form duo of Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma that appeared to have broke their again within the center overs.

Livingstone was his harmful greatest, smashing Andre Russell for 3 fours within the fifth over.

Looking harmful in his nine-ball 15, Livingstone was squared up by an ideal quick leg-break from Chakravarthy to be trapped plumb on his back-foot.

With Harshit Rana (3-0-33-2) grabbing two contained in the powerplay, KKR had an ideal begin contained in the powerplay decreasing PBKS to 58/3. Rana’s first wicket resulted after Rahmanullah Gurbaz took an acrobatic catch even after fumbling a bit.

When life provides you a second probability, seize it with each fingers like Gurbaz!#KKRvPBKS #IPLonJioCinema #TATAIPL #IPL2023 | @KKRiders @RGurbaz_21 pic.twitter.com/ldNbApynWj

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) May 8, 2023

Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (57; 47b) anchored the present in a Virat Kohli-like innings the opposite day towards Delhi Capitals however the lefthander might by no means take off and was dismissed by KKR skipper Nitish Rana.

Dhawan put collectively 53 runs partnership with Jitesh Sharma (21).

Rana well bowled Chakravarthy as soon as contained in the powerplay after which within the eighth, thirteenth and seventeenth over as he completed his quota, cleansing up Rishi Dhawan with a fallacious one.

Rishi (19; 11b) had his intention clear smashing Chakravarthy for a six within the first ball, however the KKR spinner had the final snort.

On an Eden wicket that regarded on the drier aspect from the skin, seamer Rana gave KKR an ideal begin, hanging twice in two overs after Prabhsimran teed off in model with three boundaries off Arora within the first over.

Gurbaz took Prabhsimran’s catch on second try and in his subsequent over Rana had comeback man Bhanuka Rajapaksa for a three-ball duck.

Things nevertheless nonetheless tilted in favour of PBKS as in-form Liam Livingstone counter-attacked Andre Russell with three back-to-back fours in a 19-run over.

PBKS regarded on track with 51/2 after 5 overs, when Chakravarthy trapped Livingstone plumb on his back-foot in a vital turnaround for KKR.