KL Rahul guides Punjab to crucial IPL win

Punjab Kings' flickering playoff hopes brightened and they dimmed Kolkata Knight Riders' own chances after winning their Indian Premier League match by five wickets in the last over after a captain's knock from KL Rahul.

A day after Chris Gayle left them to be fresh for West Indies at the Twenty20 World Cup, Punjab joined Kolkata and Mumbai on 10 points on Friday as the three teams battle for the fourth and final qualifying spot.

After winning the toss, Rahul elected to bowl and his side then rallied to restrict Kolkata to 7-165, with the Knight Riders scoring only 44 off the last five overs.

Without a specialist fifth bowler, Kolkata then couldn't stop Punjab reaching their target on 5-168 with three balls remaining as Rahul took the player-of-the-match honours with his anchoring 67 off 55 balls, featuring four fours and two sixes.

Kolkata's fielding didn't help either, with captain Eoin Morgan dropping Mayank Agarwal off the second ball of the chase.

Agarwal went on to 40 while Rahul Tripathi dropped Nicholas Pooran on one before the West Indian went on to make a dozen.

Rahul was eventually out in the last over but he had done enough, with Shahrukh Khan hitting a match-winning six off the very next delivery, the ball popping out of Tripathi's despairing hands at deep midwicket and dropping over the boundary.

Earlier, Venkatesh Iyer had led Kolkata's batting with 69 off 49 balls, including nine boundaries.

He was well supported by Tripathi, with 34 off 26.

Yet the momentum was lost as England's World Cup-winning skipper Morgan failed again, out lbw for two when he wafted at Mohammed Shami.

Nitish Rana provided late fireworks with 31 off 18 but after the batting was bolstered, 165 looked sub-par.

The fifth bowler duties were shared by Iyer and Rana and Punjab exploited their shared 3.3 overs by taking 37 runs.