Riding on brilliant half-centuries from Chris Gayle and Mandeep Singh, Kings XI Punjab defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by eight wickets and jumped to the fourth position in Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 team standings. Chasing 150 in Sharjah, KL Rahul and Mandeep Singh got Punjab off to a steady start, adding 47 runs for the first wicket. Chris Gayle arrived after Rahul’s dismissal to only worsen KKR’s woes. The southpaw smashed KKR bowlers all over the park and brought up a quick-fire half-century. Mandeep Singh, who played the anchor role, also scored an unbeaten half-century and Punjab crossed the line with seven balls to spare. KKR vs KXIP Highlights Dream11 IPL 2020.

Earlier in the day, KXIP skipper KL Rahul won the toss and opted to bowl first at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. The bowlers immediately justified the decision by rattling KKR’s batting line-up by storm. After losing three wickets inside two overs, Shubman Gill joined forces with skipper Eoin Morgan, and the duo pulled things back with their aggressive batting. The southpaw got dismissed after a quick-fire fifty while Gill went on to register a half-century. However, the rest of the batsmen couldn’t capitalize on the start and lost wickets regularly. Courtesy some big shots from Lockie Ferguson in the end overs, KKR managed to score 149/9. Mohammed Shami was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets while Ravi Bishnoi and Chris Jordan got two scalps. Meanwhile, let’s look at stat highlights of the game. IPL 2020 Points Table Updated.

# Kings XI Punjab registered their fifth straight win in IPL 2020.

# Shubman Gill recorded his seventh half-century in Indian Premier League.

# Mandeep Singh scored his first fifty of the season.

# Mandeep Singh brought up 1000 IPL runs for KXIP.

# Chris Gayle scored the second-fastest half-century (25 balls) by a KXIP batsman this season.

# Gayle also completed 1000 runs for Kings XI Punjab in IPL.

With this, Punjab finally see themselves in the final four and are on the right track to seal a playoff berth. They’ll next meet Rajasthan Royals at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on October 30. On the other hand, KKR will either have to rely on Punjab’s results in the remaining two games or win their remaining matches with massive margins. They’ll next take the field against Chennai Super Kings on October 29 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 26, 2020 11:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).