Today, Kings XI Punjab won the match chasing 200 runs successfully. This was the 3rd successful chase of more than 200 runs in the IPL. Kolkata Knight Riders played their home match against visitors Kings XI Punjab at Eden garden. Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss & elected to bat first.
Opening the innings, Kolkata Knight Riders gave a brilliant start where openers Sourav Ganguly & Chris Gayle played nicely. First wicket fell in the 8th over, it was KKR's skipper Sourav Ganguly who got out after scoring 63 runs. Chris Gayle made a partnership with Manoj Tiwary scoring 101 runs which was contributed by both. This helped the Kolkata Knight Riders to reach 200 runs in total after completing 20 overs. Chris Gayle was the top scorer for KKR scoring 88 runs in 42 balls which included 6 fours & 8 sixes. Kings XI Punjab's economical bowler was Ramesh Powar whose economy rate was 5.75 runs per over.
Chasing the score of target 201 runs, Kings XI Punjab started their innings with Manvinder Bisla & Mahela Jayawardena. Bisla was out 5th over when KXIP was at 51 runs, but this did not drop the run rate of KXIP which was 10 runs per over. Kumar Sangakkara & Yuvaraj Singh gave their support to the team as well as to his partner Mahela Jayawardena to put his maiden IPL century. This helped Kings XI Punjab to chase the target of 201 runs in 18.2 overs. Teams top scorer was Mahela Jayawardena who scored 110 runs in just 59 deliveries. Kings XI Punjab won the match by 8 wickets, this was their 2nd victory playing 10 matches in IPL season 3.
