IPL 2021, PBKS vs KKR as it happened: Captain Eoin Morgan guides his side to a 5-wicket win

Player of the match: Eoin Morgan

Post-match reaction: KL Rahul says the Punjab batters struggled to apply themselves and did not assess the conditions quickly enough. Not easy on a pitch being used for the first time in the tournament, but that is what good players should do he says. Didn’t come on enough in the first six overs.

KKR win by 5 wickets: 4-2-4! Dinesh Karthik finishes the run-chase off, as KKR recover from losing early wickets in the run-chase. Captain Morgan leads from the first.

KKR need 9 from 24 balls.

After 16 overs, KKR 115/5: FOUR-SIX! Morgan not wasting any time in finishing this chase. He’s played a good hand for his side today. 13 runs from that Hooda over as Morgan crosses 7000 T20 runs.

KKR need 22 off 30 balls. In a normal scenario, there should be no questions from here. But we have seen KKR’s batting do some weird things lately.

After 15 overs, KKR 102/5: Another mix-up when trying a quick single! What is going on? DK though puts in a dive nice and early to make sure he is safe. Bishnoi finishes with 4-0-19-0.

Over 14.1: WICKET! Another high profile player is run out in this tournament. DreRuss is caught short by a superb throw by Arshdeep. Rahul did well too to make sure the throw was diverted on to the stumps. Should teams look into more when it comes to risky singles in a T20?

After 14 overs, KKR 98/4: Need 26 from 36 balls, KKR. Morgan playing a captain’s knock today, keeping the runs ticking.

After 13 overs, KKR 91/4: Just three runs from the Bishnoi over. Another timeout. The IPL, meanwhile, have repeated this message at all timeouts today. Seems like they have at least received many of the comments about the league not acknowledging the ground reality enough.

After 12 overs, KKR 88/4: Shami goes round the wicket to DreRuss. A four for the allrounder with a classic French cut. Good yorker to end the over.

Over 10.6: WICKET! End of a good partnership, end of a good innings by Rahul Tripathi. He is livid with himself, a very expressive batter that he is. Caught at long on by Shahrukh, out for 41. Didn’t the timing right. Hooda with the wicket. KKR 83/4.

After 10 overs, KKR 76/3: Tripathi with another delicate dab behind the wickets for a four. He has played that shot so well.

After 9 overs, KKR 68/3: Timeout taken. Nine runs from Bishnoi’s over. A missed stumping (but too tough as it rolled past Rahul) when Tripathi stepped down. Another misfield results in a four as we get to see the amount of dew in slow motion.

After 8 overs, KKR 59/3: Another boundary for Morgan, punched through cover as Jordan goes for 13 in his first over. A four for Tripathi and four leg byes earlier in the over.

After 7 overs, KKR 46/3: Three singles and a leg bye in that first over by Bishnoi.

After 6 overs, KKR 42/3: Oh dear. Another misfield from Bishnoi, four for Morgan. He and Tripathi have tried to use their feet to come down the pitch against pacers too. Injecting momentum into their shots. Despite three wickets, a good powerplay for them. The intent has been to get as many as possible with the field restrictions.

After 5 overs, KKR 37/3: Another good over for KKR, despite the early wickets. Tripathi with a couple of fours. Tripathi lets one through his legs! A great leveller and all that, eh?

After 4 overs, KKR 27/3: EVENTFUL OVER! First, a sensational direct hit by Gayle makes Tripathi thinks he is gone. But the dive has saved him. Morgan then hits a six and four off Shami.

Over 2.6: WHAT A CATCH! Ravi Bishnoi with one of the best catches you will see this season. “I thought there is no way he’d get there,” says Harsha Bhogle. Absolutely stunning, the distance he covered and the dive. Narine out. The joy on Bishnoi’s face. Superb to watch. Goosebumps!

Over 1.4: WICKET! Shubman Gill continues to have a tough time. Played a couple of good strokes for fours but is trapped in front by Shami in the 2nd over. Doesn’t bother reviewing. KKR lose early wickets again. 9/2.

After 1 over, KKR 5/1: Gill started that over by accepting a gift down the leg side. But good start for Punjab.

Over 0.4: WICKET! Just the start Punjab wanted. Rana is out for a first-ball duck, Henriques strikes in the first over. Driven on the up, taken sharply at cover by SRK.

Run-chase: Gill, Rana in the middle. Henriques to start.

Innings break: First match in Ahmedabad, Punjab Kings didn’t quite a get grip of the pitch. They needed a better powerplay, but credit to KKR for executing their plans well.

ICYMI: Some interesting comments here from Andrew Tye, earlier.

End of PBKS innings: 123/9 (20)

A 18-ball 30 by Chris Jordan pushed Punjab past the 120 mark. The only batsman with a strike rate greater than 100 (a couple of them with exact 100). Not the easiest pitches to bat, can KKR snap their losing streak here?

Over 19.4: 4-0-6-1-6-0-6-OUT! Chris Jordan smashes 23 off the last 8 balls he faces before being bowled by a slower one by Prasidh in the final over. He’s given something to cheer for the PBKS fans. Two sixes in the final over as he nails the timing on the length balls from Prasidh. A 18-ball 30 by Jordan.

After 19 overs, PBKS 109/8: Bit of an odd day for Cummins with the ball in hand. Two wickets, and the first big breakthrough of Rahul’s wicket. But he has also gone the distance when going for all-out pace. Jordan with a four and six that over, both through the leg side, using the pace. 3-0-31-2 for the Aussie star.

Over 18.1: WICKET! Pat Cummins with his second of the match, Eoin Morgan takes another catch. Bishnoi walks back as he gets a leading edge. PBKS 98/8.

Over 17.2: WICKET! Shahrukh Khan is out caught at cover as Prasidh Krishna removes the dangerous Punjab Kings middle order batsman. Change of pace works, banged on to the pitch. PBKS 95/7. It has looked increasingly difficult to bat, but doesn’t feel like Punjab have anything close to a good score.

After 17 overs, PBKS 95/6: Another fantastic over from Varun, who continues to impress for KKR. 4-0-24-1 for him tonight.

Timeout taken.

After 16 overs, PBKS 91/6: The spinners have looked more threatening than pacers on this pitch, which makes Punjab’s go-slow against the pacers early on a bit more bizarre in hindsight. A much-needed six for Punjab in that over as SRK takes on Narine with a slog sweep. 4-0-22-2 for the KKR star.

Over 14.2: WICKET! Now Varun strikes. Pooran is out for a 19-ball 19. His first double-digit score this season, started to look like he was finding some groove. But beaten by KKR’s spinner. Bowled.

Over 13.1: WICKET! That’s a Sunil Narine special. Comes back in, breaches the bat-pad gap of Moises Henriques. He enjoyed that. He has been rather expressive today, don’t usually see that.

After 13 overs, PBKS 75/4: SIX, FOUR! Momentum for PBKS. Finally. Pooran is into the double figures for the first time in the tournament. A six down the ground over long on and that is followed by a powerful hit down the ground for four, bursts through Varun’s hands. Tough to call that a drop.

After 12 overs, PBKS 63/4: A couple more half chances in that over by Narine. Pooran and Henriques edge behind but tough chances.

Over 11.2: WICKET! Narine strikes as Mayank’s innings comes to an end, Tripathi takes a tumbling catch at deep square leg. Diving forward, completes the catch and then topples on his neck. That looked a bit scary, but he is happy. Nothing going PBKS’ way at the moment.

After 11 overs, PBKS 60/3: Varun for the first time today, Morgan has held his best bowler. The spinner starts well with a four-run over.

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After 10 overs, PBKS 56/3: KKR trying to peg Mayank back with short-stuff. He nails a pull shot though by giving himself room. A much-needed six.

The signs are on display from the dugout to Eoin Morgan. We had seen this before when England were in South Africa. Read more about it here.

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After 9 overs, PBKS 46/3: The short balls from DreRuss proving tough to put away. Honestly, while watching on television, the pitch has not appeared to be unplayable, the pace off it doesn’t seem off. But 2 runs in that over and we go into timeout with Punjab scoring at 5.11.

After 8 overs, PBKS 44/3: Pooran gets off the mark. He has been under the spotlight this tournament. A big innings due.

Over 7.4: WICKET! Punjab continue to struggle. Prasidh Krishna strikes in his first over, Deepak Hooda is gone. Eoin Morgan with a sharp catch. PBKS 42/3.

Vinayakk Mohanarangan: Here’s what I don’t get. At this point what has KL Rahul got to lose by changing his approach in the powerplay especially while batting first? There was some excuse if the results kept going Punjab’s way but they are not. It’s clearly hurting the side.

Over 6.3: WICKET! Good review by KKR. Gayle is out for a first-ball duck. Given not out, but DK was convinced there was an edge through to him. Seems to have brushed the bottom of the bat. Mavi has been superb, gets the wicket.

Correction: A 20-ball 19 from Rahul. PBKS: 37/1 at the end of the powerplay. Kolkata should be delighted with that.

Over 5.4: SIX AND OUT! Pat Cummins with the breakthrough. After a bizarre start to the innings with very little intent from Punjab, Rahul hits a six and then is out caught at mid-off. He would tell you maybe that is why he didn’t go hard but how does one explain a 19-ball 19 from a batter like Rahul inside the powerplay. Just... so perplexing. PBKS 36/1.

After 5 overs, PBKS 29/0: WOW. What are Punjab doing here? Two singles in the fifth over and four dot balls. Mavi bowling good lines, sure but this is just utterly bizarre batting. Rahul is on 13 off 18 balls at the moment. The shots are finding fielders with great precision. 3-0-9-0 for Mavi.

After 4 overs, PBKS 27/0: A cut by Rahul for four as Narine comes into attack. Another over that starts with a boundary but goes for just 7. Punjab continue to perplex in the powerplay.

After 3 overs, PBKS 20/0: A 6-run over after conceding a four off the first ball is a good result for Mavi. Agarwal with a cover drive. There’s not much on the pitch here, from early signs. PBKS might want to go a bit harder here.

After 2 overs, PBKS 14/0: Pat Cummins can only smile wryly as a top edge flies over the keeper head for a six. Mayank Agarwal the batter. “The edges have a sweet spot these days,” says Harsha Bhogle.

Cummins into the attack.

After 1 over, PBKS 2/0: Nice lines from Mavi in the first over. Hint of movement in the air and some variable bounce too on what is the first match of the tournament in Ahmedabad. There will be some time taken to see what the pitch does.

Pat Cummins will be in action shortly for KKR, but he has already been in the news today.

Encourage my fellow IPL players to contribute: Australia’s Cummins donates $50,000 to PM Cares Fund

KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal in the middle, Shivam Mavi has the ball in hand. Can KKR put Punjab under some pressure early on?

IPL 2021: For CSK and India, Ravindra Jadeja is raising his game to new heights

There’s a lot going on off the field in the past 24 hours:

Delhi Capitals’ R Ashwin to take a break from IPL 2021 to support family

RCB’s Zampa and Richardson, RR’s Tye return to Australia from IPL 2021 citing personal reasons

Andrew Tye says he withdrew due to travel concerns, questions money being spent by teams

Get your article about IPL 2021 featured on TheField.in. Find out how here.

Here’s an article by Karunya Keshav on Scrollstack.

Team news:

KKR are unchanged, backing the team to come good despite four defeats on the trot. Punjab bring in Chris Jordan in place of Fabian Allen.

PBKS XI: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Chris Jordan, Arshdeep Singh

KKR XI: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan, Sunil Narine, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prasidh Krishna

Message at the toss: The league, as they did ahead of the last couple of matches, are continuing to promote the message of stay home-stay safe. Michael Slater at the toss today, calls for everyone to fight together in this battle against Covid-19. KL Rahul too adds that he hopes the teams can provide entertainment for fans while the nation fights the pandemic.

TOSS: Eoin Morgan opts to bowl in Ahmedabad.

IPL 2021, PBKS vs KKR preview: Punjab look to build winning momentum against struggling Kolkata

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the Indian Premier League where Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders go up against each other. The tournament caravan is moving to Ahmedabad and New Delhi for the next set of matches, tonight’s encounter is from the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Can Eoin Morgan and Co snap losing streak tonight?

Here’s how the points table looks like: