Rahul and Shahrukh save Punjab Kings from exiting IPL 2021.

KL Rahul led the charge brilliantly from the front, helping Punjab Kings cross the finishing line with a composed 55-ball 67 and keeping his team’s playoff berth alive with a five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in Dubai on Friday.

The competition is tough now! Punjab kings‘ left the ground with a happy heart and with high hopes after they qualified for the playoffs defeating KKR by five wickets at Dubai International Stadium. Now three teams, KKR, PBKS and MI will be battling for the fourth position.

Rahul won the toss and chose to bowl restricting Kolkata to 165 with 7 wickets down. with the Knight Riders scoring only 44 of the last five overs. Without an efficient fifth bowler, Kolkata was unable to restrict Punjab from reaching their target on 5-168 with three balls remaining. Rahul and Mayank Agarwal’s 70-run opening partnership set them up perfectly for the chase. Rahul took the player of the match award for his splendid performance of  67 off 55 balls, with four fours and two sixes.

Punjab’s Shahrukh Khan hit the winning runs, a six off Venkatesh Iyer. KKR had played yesterday without Lockie Ferguson, picking Tim Seifert instead. This meant they were a bowler short and had to depend on Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana to complete the fifth bowler’s quota. Kolkata’s fielding was utterly poor, with captain Eoin Morgan dropping Mayank Agarwal. “Deserved to Win Because They Seized Key Moments”, says KKR Coach Brendon McCullum.

Here, Morgan again becomes questionable whether he is still best suited to be the team’s captain or not .The reason being Karthik changed to Morgan has not done justice is clear from yesterday’s picture. However, KL Rahul is always going to be Punjab Kings’ main man chasing a 166-run target against Kolkata Knight Riders, providing justice to his team and his name.