UMESH'S PACE, RUSSELL'S POWER TOO HOT FOR PBKS

KKR Flex Muscles, Beat Punjab By Six Wickets With 33 Balls Left

- Archiman.Bhaduri

Former India national coach Ravi Shastri believes the IPL will provide national selectors a good opportunity to see how some youngsters lead their sides. Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer definitely falls in that watchlist and the Mumbai player displayed his game-reading quality well in his side’s six-wicket victory against Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.

Shreyas was perhaps lucky from the word go as he won the important toss and put the rivals in, keeping the dew factor later on in mind. He got good support from KKR’s two old warhorses – Umesh Yadav with the ball and Andre Russell with the bat, who brought the side back to winning ways with 33 balls to spare.

Yadav struck in the first over for the third time in a row in this IPL, claiming his 50th wicket in the Powerplay by trapping Punjab skipper Mayank Agarwal in front. However, Shreyas deciding to bring Yadav back for his second spell at a time when Punjab were under pressure actually tilted the balance of the match in KKR’s favour.

Umesh responded well by picking up Liam Livingstone, who was looking dangerous, caught at long-off by Tim Southee. Shreyas, who did not keep his main weapon for the death overs, was happy to see Umesh pick up two more wickets, those of Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar, in his last over and the 15th of the innings, to finish with 4/23.