Kolkata Knight Riders won their eighth match on the trot and stormed into the final of the Indian Premier League last night after defeating Kings XI Punjab by 28 runs in a rain-effected match.
Umesh Yadav was the wrecker-in-chief for Kolkata as they successfully defended their total of 163-8 on a slow surface.
Yadav (3-13) was ably assisted by Morne Morkel (2-23) as Kings XI Punjab were restricted to 135-8 in 20 overs.
Sent into bat, KKR had posted a target of 164, riding on in-form opener Robin Uthappa’s 30-ball 42.
The Orange Cap holder once again laid the foundation with the help of his 10th consecutive innings of 40-plus.
Celebrating his return to the Indian ODI side, Uthappa's tally of 655 runs is now the best ever for an Indian batsman in a single IPL season, beating last year’s effort of Virat Kohli (634).
Kings XI Punjab coach Sanjay Bangar said the intermittent rains had a drastic influence on his team's plans.
“I just thought the drizzle really spoilt it a bit," said Bangar. "I believe 160-odd was a par score on this wicket. Our batsmen got a bit flustered by the rain and lost the momentum midway through the innings.
Even while KKR were batting, the rain came down particularly at the right time for our opponents.
“We did not bat the way we’re capable of and not many of our batsmen got a score of 40, I think that led to our downfall. But that’s not to take anything away from Kolkata. They played better on the day, they deserved to be the winners.
“They are a good bowling unit and because of that they executed their plans really well. It’s a challenge for our batsmen to try and counter that which we could not tonight.”
The match was originally scheduled at 8pm on Tuesday but had to be postponed to the reserve day due to heavy downpour earlier.
Punjab now take on Chennai Super Kings on Friday in a match that will decide the second finalist.
