IPL 2019: KKR VS KXIP- What cost KXIP their first loss this season?

The 6th match of the Indian Premier League took place between KKR and KXIP at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. With both teams having won their opening encounters, an interesting match was on the cards as both the outfits wanted to continue their winning streak. It was a high scoring affair as a total of 408 runs were scored. However, KXIP couldn't manage to keep up with the run rate and succumbed to a 28-run defeat.

There were a few talking points of the game and a couple of bad decisions from the Punjab captain which helped KKR move up to the top of the table with a healthy net run-rate. Here's what cost KXIP the game and led them to their first loss this season.

#1 Bowling a spinner against Narine

Narine's blistering start gave KKR a solid platform to build on.

The Knight Riders scored a mammoth 218 and it wasn't just the last three overs that changed the game. KKR had maintained a healthy run-rate throughout the innings and the stage was set by Sunil Narine who hit a blistering 24 runs in the over. Narine doesn't have a particular weakness against spin and has no trouble putting the balls out of the park.

Moreover, the over was bowled by a debutant which didn't help Punjab's cause either as it didn't boost his morale and he leaked runs in his following overs as well. More than that, it set the stage for KKR to set a huge total as their run rate after the first four overs was more than 10.

This enabled the middle order- Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa to play their shots freely and make a partnership in excess of 100 and eventually set the stage for Andre Russell to do what he does best and smash the bowlers all around the park. Thus, Ashwin's decision to bowl the debutant in the power play with Narine on the crease made a huge difference to how KKR paced the innings.

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#2 Getting Russell out on a no-ball

Russell's towering 17-ball 48 pushed KKR to a massive total

Now, if there was one moment which changed the game, it was this one. Russell was struggling on 3 runs off 4 balls in the 17th over when Shami cleaned him up with a beautiful yorker.

However, things turned ugly for Punjab when the ball was declared a no-ball because there were only 3 fielders inside the ring, which was one less than the amount required. The man at fault was Varun Chakravarty who was making his debut.

Things went from bad to worse for Punjab as Russell smashed 21 and 22 in the following overs which made a huge difference in the total score. Had they gotten Russell out, Punjab could have restricted Kolkata to something below 200 which was a par score given the pitch and the batting lineup Punjab had. However, careless captaincy from Ashwin led to this huge game-changing moment which led to the side's loss in the game.

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#3 Poor death bowling by Punjab

Thami was smashed all around the park by Russell

There isn't much any team can do with a set Andre Russell on the crease but to make matters worse, Punjab's bowling was horrific at the death. They were bowling superbly before they got Dre Russ out on a no-ball but post that it was just the Russell show as he slammed 3 fours and 5 sixes off just 17 balls.

Tye leaked 30 runs off his last two overs while Mohammed Shami gave 25 off his last one. Yorkers were missed and half volleys were delivered to the big man who had absolutely no trouble putting them out of the park.

To make matters worse for Punjab, there wasn't anyone who could bowl instead of these two bowlers as Varun had gone for almost 12 an over already and all other bowlers had completed their quota. Had Punjab got their yorkers and slower ones right, they could have prevented Kolkata from going so big.

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#4 Openers failed to deliver

The dup added just 21 runs between themselves

It is very vital for any match and any team, especially in a huge run chase to have their openers firing from the word go. Chasing 219, it was essential that Punjab's openers took responsibility and gave their team a solid platform to build on.

It would have been easy for Punjab even if one of their openers scored big, as David Miller and Mayank Agarwal were in form and got a 74 run partnership, while even Mandeep Singh helped in with a 15 ball 33.

However, the openers failed to make it big as both Chris Gayle and KL Rahul got out within the powerplay with scores of just 20 and 1 respectively. It created a huge impact on Punjab's innings as the middle order batsmen could not play their shots freely and were constantly under the pressure of not losing wickets. Had one of these two stepped up and gotten a big knock, KXIP could have chased the target as the pitch was a lively one and Kolkata's score was just above par.

Punjab should learn from this match and make amends to win their next encounter against Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians if they want to remain on the top 4 teams in the table.

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