K L Rahul steered Punjab Kings to a nail-biting five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders yesterday, keeping their hopes alive for a play-off place in the Indian Premier League.
KKR looked set for a big total in Dubai with Venkatesh Iyer smashing 67 off 49 balls but Punjab restricted them to 165 for 7 with England captain Eoin Morgan out for two.
The openers made a good start before Mayank Agarwal departed for 40, caught at cover by Morgan - having dropped him in the first over - off Varun Chakravarthy.
Nicholas Pooran fell for 12, Aiden Markram for 18 and Deepak Hooda for three but Rahul held his nerve with a commanding 67 off 55 balls.
Rahul looked out with 10 balls left but Rahul Tripathi, taking what appeared to be a spectacular diving catch, was adjudged by the third umpire to have grounded the ball.
Rahul was finally caught a few balls later.  With four needed off four, Shahrukh Khan heaved the ball to the fence where Tripathi fumbled it over the rope.  
“Kings played well, we fought back, but catches have cost us,” Morgan said afterwards.
Punjab’s win takes them to fifth, level on 10 points with fourth-placed KKR and MI in sixth.

Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 168/5 (K L Rahul 67, M Agarwal 40; V Chakaravarthy 2/24) beat KKR 165/7 (V Iyer 67, R Tripathi 34; A Singh 3/32) by 5 wickets.