Rinku Singh finished off in grand fashion once again for the Kolkata Knight Riders as they beat Punjab Kings by five wickets on Monday to keep their IPL play-off hopes alive. KKR skipper Nitish Rana’s half-century and Andre Russell’s big boost in the death overs of their chase of 180 enabled Rinku to finish off the game with a 10-ball-21 not out.

Earlier, Varun Chakaravarthy once again brilliantly spearheaded their bowling department to grab 3/26 as KKR put up a tidy bowling show to restrict PBKS to a below-par 179 for seven after the visitors opted to bat on a slow wicket. In reply, KKR’s batting show was led by Rana’s stellar effort when he promoted himself to No 3 and laid the foundation with a 38-ball 51 (6×4, 1×6).

Needing 56 off 28 balls after Rana became Rahul Chahar’s second victim, Russell went ballistic against Sam Curran smoking him for three sixes in four balls in a 20-run over to change the equation in favour of KKR who needed six off the last over.

But death over specialist Arshdeep Singh who had six to defend took it down the wire with four off the first four balls. There was more drama when Russell was ran out in the penultimate ball as a calm-headed Rinku Singh (21 not out; 10b) once again came to KKR’s rescue sealing the win with a boundary off the last ball.

IPL 2023 Points table after KKR vs PBKS

KKR’s win has added to the logjam in the fight for at least four of the qualification spots. They are the fifth team to be on 10 points, with RR leading that lineup on the basis of their net run rate. KKR are now fifth with a net run rate of -0.079. However, they could go further down based on who wins Wednesday’s clash between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, both of who have a game in hand and are on 10 points each. Third-placed Lucknow Super Giants are only one point ahead of the chasing pack on 11 points while second-placed Chennai Super Kings are on 13th. Gujarat Titans lead the table with 16 points.

Orange Cap table

There was no changes to the top five of the Orange Cap table. However, Rinku Singh has now risen to 10th spot with 337 runs in 11 matches at a strike rate of 151.12. Faf du Plessis continues to lead the table with 511 points at a strike rate of 157.71 while Yashasvi Jaiswal is second with 477 runs at a strike rate of 160.60.

Purple Cap table

Varun Chakaravarthy’s 3/26 took him to fifth spot on the Purple Cap table. He has 17 wickets in 11 matches. Mohammed Shami and Rashid Khan of Gujarat Titans and Tushar Deshpande of CSK lead the standings with 19 wickets. Shami is first, followed by Rashid and Deshpande on the basis of their economy. Piyush Chawla is fourth on 17 wickets.