May 21, 2018 by admin

Kings kicked out by Superkings

Pune, May 21

Kings XI Punjab, having played inconsistently through the tournament, finished second-last in IPL-11, getting beaten by five wickets by Chennai Super Kings here on Sunday night.
KXIP’s slim hopes of qualifying for the playoff stage rested on two events today: One, they needed Delhi Daredevils to beat Mumbai Indians in the day’s first match, and Delhi achieved that, knocking out Mumbai Indians from the tournament; two, KXIP needed to beat CSK by a big margin tonight to qualify for the playoffs ahead of Rajasthan Royals, and this KXIP failed to achieve.
Batting first, KXIP needed to get a massive score and beat CSK by a substantial margin; however, KXIP could manage only 153, that too courtesy a 26-ball 54 by No. 6 batsman Karun Nair. Openers Chris Gayle (0) and KL Rahul (7) failed when it mattered most, while No. 3 Aaron Finch (4) too failed. Manoj Tiwary (35 off 30) and David Miller (24 off 22) repaired the innings but they had to be circumspect and thus were too slow to take KXIP to a massive total. When Miller fell, it was 80/5 in 12.1 overs, and it was left to Nair to take his team past 150. Nair blasted five sixers and three fours in his knock before being the ninth man out at 150, and the innings folded up soon after that.
In another match, Delhi Daredevils beat Mumbai Indians by 11 runs