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Match Report:

Scorecard

Punjab go top despite Lynn's lightning knock

Aussie smashes thrilling 74 for KKR but Gayle, Rahul lead successful chase in rain-affected bout

Chris Gayle and Lokesh Rahul have smashed half-centuries to neutralise Chris Lynn's quickfire 74 for Kolkata as Kings XI Punjab went to the top of the Indian Premier League after routing the Knight Riders by nine wickets.

Gayle hit an unbeaten 62 off 38 balls and Rahul made 60 off just 27 deliveries as Punjab reached a winning 1-126 with 11 balls to spare at Eden Gardens.

Punjab's target was revised to 125 in 13 overs after rain stopped play for nearly 90 minutes with Australians Aaron Finch and Andrew Tye not required at the crease.

Before rain intervened, Gayle and Rahul carried Punjab to 0-96 off just 8.2 overs after Kolkata, sent into bat, were restricted to 7-191.

Punjab lead the table with four wins from five matches, while Kolkata have three from six.

"To be honest, I didn't strike it really well, but when you have momentum going, you need to capitalise," Gayle said.

Rahul smashed nine fours and two sixes before he top-edged a pull off Sunil Narine with Punjab needing just nine more runs.

Gayle raised the victory in style with his sixth six of the innings by smashing Tom Curran over the long-on boundary. He also hit five fours in an electrifying display.

"Me and Chris have spoken – we're gonna back our games. If he's going for it, doesn't mean I take the back seat," Rahul said. "The approach is to stay aggressive and take the opposition down."

Earlier, Kolkata stumbled once they lost top-scorer Lynn in the 16th over to countryman Tye (2-30).

Kolkata could score only 45 in the last five overs and big hitter Andre Russell departed for just 10.

"We don't plan for wickets, we plan to make the batsmen uncomfortable and that forces the wicket," Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin said.

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