Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered their second victory of the season after beating the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League in Ahmedabad yesterday.
An unbeaten 47 from Eoin Morgan and a crucial 41 by Rahul Tripathi helped KKR successfully chase the target with three overs to spare after the bowlers restricted PBKS to 123. KKR were in early trouble after they lost two wickets in the first two overs with openers Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill back in the pavilion.
In the very next over, Sunil Narine got out after Ravi Bisnoi took a brilliant diving catch at deep mid-wicket.
Morgan counter-attacked straight away after the left-hander smacked a four and a six in the fourth over against Shami. Tripathi, on the other hand, creamed two fours against Arshdeep Singh as KKR recovered after a poor start. Tripathi further capitalised and scored 13 off Chris Jordan’s first over, including three fours. Deepak Hooda came to the rescue for PBKS and broke the partnership after Tripathi was caught at long-on by Shahrukh Khan.
Andre Russell joined the KKR skipper  but the big-hitter was run-out, courtesy a direct-hit from Arshdeep from the short third man. Morgan took on Hooda and smashed a four and a six over extra-cover in the 16th over while Dinesh Karthik provided the finishing touch with two fours as KKR chased down the total with five wickets in hand.
Earlier, PBKS, who made one change to their playing XI, bringing in Jordan to replace Fabian Allen, were put in to bat first on a fresh surface. Mayank Agarwal got things going after a quiet first over, with a six against Cummins, followed by a four from PBKS skipper, KL Rahul.
Rahul smacked his first six of the innings off Cummins but was on his way the next ball after trying to clear the ropes again as the Punjab Kings were 37/1 after the end of powerplay.
PBKS then lost the wickets of Chris Gayle and Hooda in quick succession. While Gayle edged a delivery off Shivam Mavi, Hooda played it straight to Morgan at point off Prasidh Krishna’s bowling.
Mayank, who was joined by Nicholas Pooran, pulled Prasidh Krishna for a six as PBKS were looking to up the ante.
The right-hander tried to target the short-side boundary against Narine but Rahul Tripathi took a magnificent catch in the deep to provide KKR their fourth wicket.
Pooran smashed Varun Chakravarthy for a six and a four on consecutive deliveries. But KKR pulled back the things once again, dismissing Henriques and Pooran.
While Narine, who was back to bowl the 14th over, disturbed the timber to dismiss Henriques, Chakravarthy got Pooran out after the left-hander misread the spinner’s delivery and was castled. Shahrukh Khan, who was joined by Jordan, clobbered a massive six against Narine but the Punjab Kings were struggling at 95/6 with three overs to go. The right-hander was back to the pavilion after trying to go aerial and was followed by Ravi Bishnoi, after PBKS batsman got out in a similar fashion against Cummins.
Jordan added some useful runs after smashing Cummins for a four and a six followed by two huge sixes off Prasidh Krishna.

Brief scores
 Punjab Kings 123/9 in 20 overs (M Agarwal 31, C Jordan 30, P Krishna 3/30, S Narine 2/22, V Chakravarthy 1/24) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 126/5 in 16.4 overs (E Morgan 47 not out, R Tripathi 41).