Twitter Reactions: Mandeep Singh's emotional roller coaster knock takes KXIP to yet another victory

Punjab managed to clinch their fifth win on the trot and is in some serious contention of the playoffs.

By Pratyay Tiwari

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2 Min Read

Mandeep Singh
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Mandeep Singh. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

The 46th clash of the Indian Premier League (IPL) witnessed the Kings XI Punjab take on the Kolkata Knight Riders. The contest was an extremely crucial one given the context of the league as two teams were located in the middle of the table, grappling to find an official ticket for the playoffs.

Coming after victories in their respective last encounters, both the teams decided to keep the winning combination unchanged. Having won the toss, KXIP elected to field first. Keeping up with their last game’s opening pair, KKR sent in Nitish Rana alongside Shubman Gill. Although the move did not materialize well as Glenn Maxwell made Rana top-edge one to Gayle at short fine-leg.

Morgan and Gill’s counterattacking stand

KKR soon found themselves in tatters as Mohammed Shami’s out-swinging one took an outside edge of Rahul Tripathi’s bat and KL Rahul grabbed an easy catch behind the stumps. Only a couple of balls later, Dinesh Karthik, who unsuccessfully reviewed a shout for the catch behind the stumps, was declared out after the third-umpire review showed Shami’s jaffa kissing the edge of his bat.

At 10/3, KXIP bowlers were heavily dominating the opposition, however, denying to succumb under pressure, Eoin Morgan and Shubman Gill launched a magnificent counter-attack and constructed a quick-fire alliance of 81 runs for the 4th wicket. Just when it seemed the KKR had managed to sway the momentum in their favour despite the early jitters, Ravi Bishnoi’s wrong’un outside leg cajoled Morgan (40 from 25) to go for an aerial shot, which landed straight into the hands of Ravi Ashwin at deep square leg.

What followed was another short collapse as the bowlers came into the game and bagged three quick wickets to spoil KKR’s momentum. A late burst by Lockie Ferguson, who slammed three boundaries and six in his 13-ball 24 run knock, took KKR to a decent total of 149 at the loss of 9 wickets.

Steady start followed by Gayle-Mandeep storm for KXIP

Coming to chase a rather modest target, KL Rahul (28 from 25) and Mandeep Singh gave the team a flying start to the team as Punjab added 47 for the first wicket. The hero from the last game, Varun Chakravarthy trapped skipper Rahul leg before through his googly. Although, little did the bowlers know what fate had in store for them. Rahul’s dismissal led to Mandeep Singh (66 from 56) taking over, and he began to play positive and risk-free strokes.

On the other side, Chris Gayle (51 from 29) continued in his own style as he targeted the spinners and unfurled some scintillating shots. Taking complete control of the situation, both the batsmen played sensible cricket and added 100 runs for the second wicket. On the back of the crucial knocks of the two batsmen, Punjab managed to clinch their fifth win on the trot and is in some serious contention of the playoffs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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