Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Rahul Tripathi credited the team’s bowlers for restricting Punjab Kings to an under-par score of 123 runs after Eoin Morgan won the toss and decided to bowl first. KKR finally broke their five-match losing streak as they defeated PBKS by five wickets to register their second win of the season.
The KKR bowlers were right on the money and never let PBKS get off the hook. Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the bowlers for KKR as he scalped 3-30 in his quota of four overs.
On the other hand, Narine returned with figures of 2-22 in his four overs whereas Varun took 1-24 in his quota of overs. Thus, KKR came up with a collective effort with the ball to put the break on PBKS innings. Furthermore, Shivam Mavi got the big wicket of Chris Gayle and once again impressed. He conceded only 13 runs in his four overs and bowled an economical spell.
Rahul Tripathi said in the post-match presentation, “Feels nice that we’ve won the game. It was an important game for us after having lost three games in a row. Bowlers did extremely well to restrict them to a low total. We did lose early wickets but we knew that if we played proper cricketing shots, we could chase it down. Yes, the pitch did get a bit better in the second half but it was still two-paced and a bit slow”.
Tripathi has been a consistent performer for KKR so far and he has mostly hit the ground running for his team. The right-hander scored another vital knock of 41 runs and added a crucial alliance of 66 runs with skipper Eoin Morgan to get his team closer to the target of 124 runs. The ever-smiling Tripathi added he would have liked to finish the game and also shared his thoughts on the close run-out chance against him.
Tripathi added, “Yeah, I thought I was out (on that dive which saved him from a run out). Saw the throw coming and felt that I was a fraction late. Was a little upset but on seeing the replay, was really happy. I was set, and wanted to take a chance against the offie. Probably should have gone harder, went half-hearted. Rash shot. Would have loved to carry on”.
Tripathi has scored 168 runs in six matches at an average of 28 and an impressive strike rate of 138.84 and he will look to continue the good form. KKR will next face DC at the same venue on 29th April.
