A blistering unbeaten 31-ball 70 from Andre Russell and a four-wicket haul from Umesh Yadav has helped the Kolkata Knight Riders hammer the Punjab Kings by six wickets on Friday night.
Needing just 138 to win, all Kolkata Knight Riders was to play normally without going hell for leather.
As it turned out, they did the exact opposite, and by the time the 7th over was done, they had already lost four top-order batters, including skipper Shreyas Iyer.
Ajinkya Rahane came out all guns blazing, smashing three fours in the first two overs before a loose flashy drive away from his body against Kagiso Rabada paved the way for his demise.
Venkatesh Iyer (3 off 7 deliveries) registered his third failure of the season as he slashed hard at a wide delivery from Odean Smith, only to see Harpreet Brar take a juggling catch at cover-point.
Two quick wickets did not deter Shreyas (26 off 15 deliveries) as he smashed four boundaries of the first 11 deliveries he faced in the powerplay.
KKR finished the powerplay at 2-51, but the game turned in the next over bowled by Rahul Chahar.
Chahar induced a false stroke from Shreyas- a slog-sweep- after having bowled three dot deliveries and then followed it up by trapping Nitish Rana (0 off 2 deliveries) plumb in front, leaving KKR reeling at 4-51.
Again, it was left to Andre Russell to spearhead the innings, which is exactly what he did.
The West Indian swashbuckler first hammered Brar for a couple of sixes in the 10th over before laying hands on his compatriot Odean Smith.
Russell smashed Smith for as many as 4 sixes and a four in the 12th over to race his way to 44 off 21 deliveries, reducing the equation to 29 off 48 deliveries.
The hard-hitting batsman raced to a 26-ball half-century with a disdainful straight hit off Arshdeep. Russell was ably supported by Sam Billings, who kept his cool and ensured he gave back the strike to a rampaging Andre at every given opportunity.
In the end, it turned out to be a mere formality as Russell just kept toying with Punjab's bowlers.
He celebrated his half-century by moving away from his crease to deposit Singh over point for yet another maximum, leaving KKR just 10 to get in the last six.
Fittingly, it was Russell who finished off the proceedings as he smoked Liam Livingstone for two more monstrous sixes to hand two points to his side.
Umesh Yadav's 4/23 restricted Punjab Kings to 138 despite cameos from Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Kagiso Rabada
Batting first, Punjab Kings picked off from where they had left in their first game against the Royal Challengers, hammering 62 runs in the powerplay.
The problem was that they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. It didn't help their cause that skipper Mayank fell into the trap of Umesh Yadav in the first over of the innings as played across a nip-backer from the latter after a series of away-going deliveries.
Yadav picked up his 50th wicket in the powerplay, but the early wicket did not seem to have any effect on Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who once again came out all guns blazing.
The Sri Lankan southpaw announced his arrival with a nonchalant lofted drive off Tim Southee for his first boundary before dabbing Yadav for a four between backward point and third-man.
Southee then landed another blow on Punjab when he induced an outside edge off Dhawan's bat (16 off 15 deliveries) with a slower delivery to ensure that KKR finished the powerplay with three top-order wickets in his kitty.
The game completely changed once the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine started bowling in tandem.
Just 8 runs came off the next two overs in the 7th and 8th over, which eventually forced Liam Livingstone to go for his shots.
And, in an attempt to slog Umesh out of the ground, he perished for a 16-ball 19. Punjab never really recovered after that as they not only failed to score runs but also kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Narine (1/23 in four overs) dismissed Raj Bawa while Southee knocked over the dangerous Shah Rukh Khan for a duck before Umesh came back to send both Harpreet Brar and Rahul Chahar packing.
Yadav finished with sensational figures of 4/23 in four overs, leaving PBKS in tatters at 8-102 after 15.
Kagiso Rabada provided some much-needed late fireworks at the death as he smashed Southee for a couple of fours and a six before giving the same treatment to Mavi, whom he hit for a couple of boundaries.
Rabada and Odean Smith's late assault meant Punjab hammered 33 runs in the 18th and 19th over before they eventually got dismissed for 137, which ultimately proved far from enough in the end.
Brief Scores:
PBKS 137 all-out in 18.2 overs (Bhanuka Rajapaksa 31 [9], Kagiso Rabada 19 [16]; Umesh Yadav 4/23 [4]), Tim Southee 2/36 [4]) LOST to KKR 4-141 in 14.3 overs (Andre Russell 70* [31], Sam Billings 24* [23], ; Rahul Chahar 2/13 [4]) by six wickets.