IPL 2019: Match 6, KKR vs KXIP - A Good Start To The Tournament For Us - Dinesh Karthik After Beating Kings XI Punjab

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have made a great start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) winning two back to back games. They defeated Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 28 runs at their home to script another convincing win at their home turf. Following their victory, skipper Dinesh Karthik credited the whole team for two consecutive victories.

Meanwhile, the Knight Riders received a massive boost at the middle-order from the powerful hitting of Andre Russell. Russell launched a carnage at the Eden Gardens taking the Kings XI Punjab bowlers over the rope. He clubbed 47 runs from 18th and 19th over to finish the innings on a high. Previously, Sunil Narine provided a perfect start before Robin Uthappa, and Nitish Rana played to their best potential to take the game away. They added 110 runs for the third wicket to leave to Russell to launch his onslaught. The big Jamaican smacked 48 off 17 balls including three fours and five sixes to post 218 runs on the board.

Kolkata makes it two out of two

Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab succumbed to pressure as they lost KL Rahul early on the innings. In an attempt to match up the required run-rate, KL Rahul mistimed one to find Piyush Chawla in the mid-on region. Rahul’s poor run with the bat continues which brought Mayank Agarwal to the crease. Chris Gayle, Rahul’s opening partner, changed his tactics from the last game to try to match up to the asking rate.

Just when Gayle started to look dangerous hitting two boundaries and sixes each, Andre Russell got better of him to break the backbone of Punjab’s batting. Mayank Agarwal and David Miller tried their best to take Kings XI Punjab, but the asking run-rate kept on cropping up. The pair added 74 runs before Piyush Chawla cleaned up Mayank (58).  Punjab eventually ended at 190 for four with David Miller’s form the only takeaway from this game.

An ecstatic Dinesh Karthik credited his whole team for a great start to this campaign. Meanwhile, Kolkata will now embark on an away journey playing two home games on a trot. Karthik noted that it is a challenge for them and they will look to keep the winning momentum going.

Here is what Dinesh Karthik said:

“Obviously a good start to the tournament for us. The way Nitish played was beautiful. Got to give credit to Robbie for playing through and the start was very good as well. Obviously, Russell’s finish was great. It was clear that when Sunil was back from his injury, he had to bat at the top. Always playing away is a good challenge.”