Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings locked horns with each other for the 45th match of the season at The Dubai International Stadium. Punjab Kings kept their playoff hopes alive by winning the match by 5 wickets.
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Winning the toss, KL Rahul chose to field first. Chris Gayle has left the IPL 2021 and he is replaced by Fabian Allen in the squad while Mandeep Singh and Harpreet Brar have made way for Mayank Agarwal and Shahrukh Khan. KKR left Lockie Ferguson and Sandeep Warrier and brought in Tim Seifert and Shivam Mavi.
Shubhan Gill was dismissed cheaply quite early in the innings. Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi added 72 runs for the 2nd wicket. Venkatesh Iyer smashed his second fifty of IPL. Nitish Rana added a quickfire 31 off 18 deliveries which included 2 fours and 2 sixes. PBKS restricted KKR to 165/7 at the completion of 20 overs.
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While chasing 166, PBKS got off to a flying start. The opening duo added 70 runs for the first wicket before Varun Chakraborty removed Mayank Agarwal. Mayank Agarwal scored 40 off 27 deliveries which included 3 fours and 3 sixes. KL Rahul stood in the pitch and managed to score 67 runs off 55 deliveries. However, Shahrukh Khan added a quickfire 22 off 9 deliveries and handed the win to PBKS.
In the 3rd ball of the 19th over, Shivam Mavi dismissed KL Rahul. Rahul Tripathi caught a sensational catch by running in and diving forward. But the on-field umpires were not sure of the caught so they took the help of the third umpire. The third umpire zoomed it through every possible angle but found no conclusive evidence where he can say that the fingers are under the ball. The third umpire eventually made his decision as he thought that the ball was touching the ground.
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