Kings XI Punjab beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 6 wickets

Preity Zinta has broken Shah Rukh Khan’s heart. And now, there’s no reason for Bollywood Ka Badshah to come back to South Africa.

Preity’s Kings XI, in a heart-stopping thriller, snatched a last-ball win to virtually end all hopes for the Knight Riders to qualify for the semifinal in the IPL.

Kings XI needed seven off the last over, with Mahela Jayawardene and Irfan Pathan at the crease. The ball was handed over to Ajit Agarkar and the Mumbai man bowled his heart out.

But a top-edge off Mahela Jayawardene’s bat flew past a diving Sourav Ganguly at third man which brought Kings XI closer. Agarkar, though, managed a couple of dot balls, and it was left to Irfan Pathan to get one off the last ball. The allrounder held his nerve, played the ball past square leg, as Preity celebrated with the rest of the Kings’ men.

But Knight Riders had only themselves to blame. Four dropped catches in the first four overs was a killer blow to their hopes. Chris Gayle started the rot dropping an easy skier off Simon Katich in the third over, Wriddhiman Saha dropped two and Sourav Ganguly failed to latch on to one as the game drifted away pretty quickly from the Knight Riders.

Simon Katich (34) and Sunny Sohal (24) made the most of the opportunities to get Kings XI off to a brisk start after losing Kumar Sangakkara early on.

The finesse of Jayawardene (52 not out) and the easy elegance of Yuvraj Singh took them closer even after a dangerous looking Katich had been removed. The duo knew that all they had to do were to look for the singles, and the odd boundary ball would come along the way. Things went just according to script and even after Yuvi got out, Jayawardene carried on with his merry ways.

The half-full St George’s was witness to some lovely Jayawardene shots as Kings XI marched along. Beautifully balanced at the crease, the former Sri Lankan captain played a few drives and cuts, which were an absolute treat.

Umpire Sudhir Asnani, who gave a horrible leg-before decision on Saturday, also did Jayawardene a favour by turning down a shout off Murali Kartik when the ball was crashing into leg and middle.

Credits: TimesofIndia