George Bailey takes Kings XI Punjab to 155/9 against Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 14 of IPL 2015

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) have posted a fighting total in their game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the eight edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015. After being 27 for three at a point, KXIP managed to get to their eventual score thanks to the knock from skipper George Bailey, who again lead from the front for them with the bat.

KXIP got off to a testing start as the KKR bowlers were right on the money. The top three were back in the hut by dismissed Murali Vijay for a duck. Wriddhiman Saha and Virender Sehwag departed in quick succession as KXIP were reduced to 37 for three in five overs. The KKR bowlers were right on the mark and got good pace and bounce from the surface. All of the bowlers used in the Powerplay struck for them to vindicate Gautam Gambhir‘s decision to bowl first. Live Updates: Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders

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Glenn Maxwell and George Bailey tried to get KXIP back on track with a couple of blows to the boundary. Maxwell also got the lucky break when Yusuf Pathan dropped him. He was on 13 then. Both he and Bailey got the odd boundary and kept rotating the strike. Just when Maxwell was looking to go big, he found Andre Russell at sweeper cover, getting out after a well paced 33. He and Bailey shared a 63-run stand before Yadav struck to dismiss the Australian. Live Scorecard: Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Coming in for David Miller, Thisara Perera had expectations to live up to but he flopped hitting Russell straight to Manish Pandey at point to get out in single digits. Bailey though kept going to keep the scoreboard ticking as wickets continued to fall at the other end. He went onto score his 2nd IPL fifty, also his second one in IPL 2015. It was due to him alone that KXIP have the total they do now. He also managed to get the Orange Cap, for being the most highest run-scorer in the tournament. It also summed up KXIP’s campaign so far. He was run-out in the last over on 59 but not after he had got KXIP a score to defend. Live Scorecard: Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Kings XI Punjab have comeback decently after the stuttering start and will be hoping their bowlers step up to defend this total. KKR will be happy with the way their bowlers started. They did lose it a bit in the middle overs but they kept taking wickets at the right time to peg KXIP back. They did not quite had a good day in the field as they did drop a couple of catches and had a couple of mis-fields too.

Sunil Narine was miserly as ever and finally managed to a wicket today. He had figures of one for 17 in his four overs. Umesh was the pick of the bowlers for them taking three for 33 in his spell. The ball is not quite coming onto the bat and despite the fact that KKR bat deep and they know this total is not going to that easy to chase.

Brief scores:

Kings XI Punjab 155 for 9 in 20 overs (George Bailey 59, Glenn Maxwell 33; Umesh Yadav 3 for 33) vs Kolkata Knight Riders.

Full scorecard

(Nikhil Popat is a cricket lover and a PotterHead. He can be followed on Twitter @CricCrazyNIKS)