Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Prasidh Krishna (3-29)  bowled a magical spell as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) staged a valiant fightback in the second consecutive match to snatch an improbable 2-run victory against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in their IPL match on Saturday.

Punjab, who dominated the game for the most part, ran out of steam in the final two overs, spurning a chance of boosting their hopes of staying afloat in the tournament. They are at the bottom of the table with just two points in their kitty, having lost six out of their seven matches.

This is the second time in a row Kolkata bowlers have choked the opponents in the death overs without getting them all out.

After being written off in the match, Kolkata bounced back in the last two overs to turn the tables around in their defence of 165. They took three wickets, conceding just 13 runs in the last two overs to emerge winners by two runs.

Chasing a mediocre target, Punjab dominated till the 18th over of the second innings after restricting Kolkata to 165.

KL Rahul’s stupendous form with the bat continued as he hit yet another fifty and shared a 115-run opening partnership with Mayank Agarwal as Punjab looked to be cruising to an easy victory.

After Krishna dismissed Agarwal, who has scored 337 runs with the help of one century and two fifties, Nicholas Pooran came out in the middle to join Rahul. Both the players took the score to 143/1 in 17.2 overs, which left Punjab needing just 22 runs in sixteen balls with nine wickets in hand.

Narine rattled the stumps of Pooran to make it 144/2. Kolkata began fancying their chances of a come-from-behind win, something that no one would dare think of even in their wildest reverie.

Krishna bowled a historic 19th over, taking two wickets within a space of three deliveries to reduce Punjab to 151-4, bringing the  equation down to 14 needed off the last over.

Krishna’s two scalps included the prize wicket of Rahul, who smashed 74 with the help of six boundaries and remained at the top of the highest scorers’ chart. Glenn Maxwell (10 n.o.) took a couple off the first ball, played a dot, hit a four off the next and took a leg-bye, bringing it down to seven needed off the last two.

Narine put all his experience to get rid of Mandeep Singh, who holed out at deep midwicket, which left Maxwell with having to hit a six off the last ball to force a Super Over.

Earlier, Kolkata captain Dinesh Karthik finally found form with the bat as he smashed 58 off 29 balls to take his side to 164/4 against Kings XI Punjab.

It was Karthik’s first half-century in the ongoing IPL season, while Shubman Gill (57) too raced to his second fifty of the tournament.

After getting off to a shaky start, Gill and Morgan shared a 49-run stand for the third wicket to take the score to 63-3.