IPL 2019, KKR vs KXIP: Kolkata beat Punjab by 28 runs

L Ferguson to L Rahul, Sharp delivery, short and wide outside off, Rahul tries his best to play the square cut but misses. Three dots. Pressure mounting.

L Ferguson to L Rahul, The pace remains the same but the line becomes middle and leg. Rahul flicks but finds mid-wicket.

L Ferguson to L Rahul, Starts with a full ball on off, at 143.7 kph, Rahul gets forward and drives it back to the bowler.

Who will bowl from the other end? Sunil Narine? Nopes. Dinesh Karthik is starting with pacers here. The Kiwi, Lockie Ferguson to bowl from the other end.

P Krishna to C Gayle, Boundary or miss! Once again a short ball on middle and off, Gayle tries to pull but fails to connect. 11 from the first over, a good beginning from Punjab.

P Krishna to C Gayle, EDGY FOUR! The third man fielder was a bit square and it has raced away. Shortish ball outside off, once again Gayle reaches out and tries to punch it over the off side probably but gets a thick outside edge.

P Krishna to C Gayle, Swing and a miss! This is how he bats. Width on offer outside off, Gayle throws his bat at it but fails to connect.

P Krishna to C Gayle, SIX! Gayle is off the mark with a maximum! Prasidh commits the mistake of bowling short and wide outside off, Chris stays back calmly on the back foot and just uses the pace to loft it over third man.

P Krishna to C Gayle, Back of a length ball on off, Gayle goes on the back foot and taps it down to point.

P Krishna to L Rahul, Starts with a length ball on middle, Rahul gets back and works it through mid-wicket for a run. Punjab are underway, they need 'only 218' more.

Back for the run chase! Chris Gayle and KL Rahul are the openers for Punjab. They need a big Powerplay to stay on track in this match. Prasidh Krishna to kick off proceedings. Here we go...

A massive target is in front of Punjab but they would like to believe that they have the firepower in their batting to scale this down. For now, the hosts are the favourites and let's see what happens in the chase. Do join us in a short while.

Sunil Narine, who is up for a chat, says they started off well, Nitish played superbly in the middle and Russell did his job in the end. Reckons the wicket is a good one and they will have to bowl well. Mentions if Russell is at the crease anything is possible. Ends by saying there is not much spin at the start but as the match progresses, it will start to turn.

A perfect batting performance from Kolkata! Their openers set the tone by providing a blazing start and then the pair of Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana capitalized. They put on a 110-run stand and after that Andre Russell provided the finishing touches. Punjab were hot and cold with their bowling effort. They pulled things back inside the Powerplay first and then in the middle phase, but only for a brief period. Andrew Tye and Hardus Viljoen stood out but they too proved expensive later on.

The Dre Russ show! Once again. Bowled on 3 but called a no ball for having an extra fielder outside the ring and the narrative changed completely after that! A big, big miss from Ravichandran Ashwin as a skipper, this. Andre Russell just unleashed after that and muscled a 17-ball 48 to power Kolkata to a gigantic score of 218/4!

A Tye to R Uthappa, FOUR! A boundary to end! What a shot, excellent innovation. Uthappa first looks to paddle but then sees the line is wide outside off. He adjusts and manages to guide it past point, away from third man for a boundary. 8 from the last one, a good one by Tye but it is Kolkata who will be happier at the moment. THEY END WITH 218!

A Tye to D Karthik, Just a single! This is turning out to be a top over here! Karthik hits it flat and on the bounce to the long on fielder.

Dinesh Karthik is the new batsman.

A Tye to A Russell, OUT! End of the destruction! Russell has been bounced out. A very good catch there by Agarwal. The bumper on middle, Russell goes for the pull but it hits the higher portion of the bat. For a second it seems that it would go all the way but Mayank at deep mid-wicket keeps his eyes on the ropes behind and then takes a well-judged catch. Russell walks off to a standing ovation, he has made Punjab pay for the reprieve they gave him.

A Tye to R Uthappa, In the air... but safe! The slower bouncer and Uthappa is deceived. He looks to pull but only manages a top edge towards square leg for a run.