CHRIS Lynn’s 84 was not enough to prevent Kolkata Knight Riders falling to a 14-run defeat by Kings XI Punjab yesterday, keeping the IPL play-off chase alive for the time being.
Victory for Knight Riders would have locked in the competition’s top four, with Kings XI the only team able to force their way into a play-off position.
However, Kings XI kept their hopes of knockout cricket alive, now sitting three points adrift of Sunrisers Hyderabad with two matches left to play – one more than the current fourth-placed team.

Knight Riders need just one more point to be sure of qualification to the play,offs.
Kings XI set their visitors a challenging target thanks to notable contributions from Manan Vohra (25), Wriddhiman Saha (38) and Glenn Maxwell (44).
Chris Woakes (2-20) and Kuldeep Yadav (2-34) shared four wickets for Knight Riders and the team’s initial efforts at the crease were promising, after Kings XI had racked up 167-6.
Sunil Narine (18) was first to fall with Knight Riders 39 runs into their chase, while Lynn stood firm to rack up 84 from 52 deliveries opposite a rotating cast of disappointing batting partners.

Gautam Gambhir (8), Robin Uthappa (0) and Manish Pandey (18) all came and went before Lynn was eventually run-out two balls into the 18th over.
Colin de Grandhomme (11) and Woakes (8) were in the middle at the end, but the visitors had been left with too much to do and must wait for their passage to the play-offs.

(Omnisport)