Indian Premier League 2016, Match 20: Rising Pune Supergiants vs Kolkata Knight Riders — As it happened...

The Super Sunday witnessed second nail-baiting match with two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders holding firm to their winning habits to beat a fighting Rising Pune Supergiants by two wickets with three balls to spare.

Chasing 161 runs to win the match at their favourite ground, KKR lost their batting mainstays in Robin Uthappa and skipper Gautam Gambhir early. But it proved a blessing in disguise for them as Suryakumar Yadav, on for unfit Manish Pandey, batted beautifully to score his first IPL fifty.

But quick wickets, plenty of those, brought Pune back into contention and MS Dhoni's side looked favourites as the game entered it's final stretch. But, a six from an unlikely source, from Umesh Yadav meant Dhoni suffered four successive defeats in IPL for the first time.

With the win, KKR have established the status quo, and are sitting atop pretty, with four wins from five matches.

For Pune, they avoided occupying the bottom place thanks to better run-rate over Kings XI Punjab. And rightly, Dhoni was livid during the post match chat with the official broadcasters of the tournament.

More than few areas of concerns for the new team.

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KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS INNINGS; TARGET 161

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Over 20 || Score 162/8 (U Yadav 7; Narine 0)

Two runs to start the last over, then the wicket of Piyush Chawla, holed out at long-on. Good catch by Steven Smith.

WICKET: Piyush Chawla c Steven Smith b Thisara Perera 8 (5b)

Then, Umesh Yadav produced a mighty, straight six to win the match by two wickets with three balls to spare.

And MS Dhoni suffered four back-to-back defeats for the first time in IPL.

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Over 19 || Score 154/7 (Chawla 6; U Yadav 1)

A six to start the penultimate over, and a two singles. Pressure on MS Dhoni.

But Albie Morkel reponded by cleaning up Rajagopal Sathish's wickets.

WICKET: Rajagopal Sathish b Albie Morkel 10 (8b)

A leg sided wide ball to new man Umesh Yadav. Then a single. A lofted shot from Piyush Chawla. Almost a catch at deep extra cover. A single for the effort. 11 runs and a wicket from the over.

KKR need 7 runs from 6 balls.

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Over 18 || Score 143/6 (Sathish 3; Chawla 4)

Thisara Perera back for his third over. A dot ball to Rajagopal Sathish to start the over. A single as Sathish rolled his bat to run down short third man.

A single to Andre Russell, off fullish delivery. Then a short, slower delivery, and a mistimed shot. Wicket. Caught at mid-on by Faf du Plessis. And dangerous Russell is gone.

WICKET: Andre Russell c Faf du Plessis b Perera 17 (11b)

That happened off the fifth ball. New man Piyush Chawla, on his hunches, guided a widish delivery towards deep third man and the fielder there, allowed the ball to cross over, for four runs.

Equation: 18 off 12.

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Over 17 || Score 136/5 (Russell 16; Sathish 1)

Ankit Sharma on for his third over. A dot ball to Andre Russell to start the over. Then a single, which also invited a run-out call. Then the West Indies powered a six over cover, some 98 metres deep into the stands.

Three wides, then Russell launched another one over long-on. This time 82 metres.

A single to end the over. And suddenly the required rate has dropped under 9 an over.

17 runs from that over.

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Over 16 || Score 119/ (Russell 3; Sathish 0)

Murugan Ashwin also on for his final over. A single to Andre Russell to the over. Then Suryakumar Yadav hit the second ball for a four, a brilliant one through cover.

Two more dot balls, then the wicket. Big wicket, bid decision. LBW Suryakumar Yadav.

WICKET: Suryakumar Yadav lbw b Murugan Ashwin 60 (49b)

That happened off the fifth ball of the over. Rajagopal Sathish, the new man, and Muruguan's state-mate, missed the last ball, for a dot.

Five runs and a wicket from the over, and Murugan's figures: 4-0-32-1.

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Over 15 || Score 114/4 (Yadav 56; Russell 2)

Rajat Bhatia on for his final over. A single to Suryakumar Yadav, then LBW Yusuf Pathan. The batsman shuffled his stance, in  a bid to play on the on side, but found himself trapped, on front foot. Easy one for the umpire.

WICKET: Yusuf Pathan lbw b Rajat Bhatia 36 (27b)

New man Andre Russell took a single off the first ball he faced. Two singles more from the last three balls, and Bhatia completed his spell.

His figures: 4-0-19-2.

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Over 14 || Score 110/3 (Yadav 54; Pathan 36)

Murugan Aswhin, who was hit for a huge six off the last ball of his previous over, found himself witnessing another huge six to start the new over. And the batsman, the same one — Yusuf Pathan.

It was followed by a double, the a single, a wide and three more singles. Then the fifty-run stand between Suryakumar Yadav and Pathan, off 35 balls.

13 runs from Murugan's third over.

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Over 13 || Score 89/3 (Yadav 52; Pathan 26)

Another busy over, as an otherwise reticent Rajat Bhatia leaked 8 runs, including a boundary.

Kolkata Knight Riders need another 64 runs from 42 balls.

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Over 12 || Score 89/3 (Yadav 50; Pathan 20)

Murugan Ashwin on for his second over. Yusuf Pathan took a single off the first ball, then Suryakumar Yadav, on 49, took three balls to reach his first fifty with a single.

A dot ball, then Yusuf Pathan milked the last ball for a huge six, over long-on.

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Over 11 || Score 81/3 (Yadav 49; Pathan 13)

Ankit Sharma on for his second over. Good one from the left-arm spinner. He managed to keep both the Kolkata Knight Riders batsmen quiet in the centre. Three singles from it.

KKR need another 83 runs from 60 balls.

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Over 10 || Score 78/3 (Yadav 48; Pathan 11)

Impressive Murugan on for Pune.

A single to Suryakumar Yadav. Then a dot ball to Yusuf Pathan, which was followed by a lucky four off a googly, with the ball racing away to short fine leg boundary after an uncontrolled shot.

A single, the two dot balls. Six runs from the over.

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Over 9 || Score 72/3 (Yadav 47; Pathan 6)

Rajat Bhatia returned for his second over and the 36-year-old operated like a programmed bowler. Four singles, not a stray delivery.

In the last five over KKR have scored 30 runs, losing a wicket.

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Over 7 || Score 68/3 (Yadav 45; Pathan 4)

Ankit Sharma, with his left-arm spin, on for Pune. Six singles from the over.

Kolkata Knight Riders need another 93 runs from 12 overs.

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Over 7 || Score 62/3 (Yadav 42; Pathan 1)

After the strategic time out, MS Dhoni introduced Rajat Bhatia, the famed slow slow medium pacer.

A single to Suryakumar Yadav. A dot to Shakib Al Hasan, then the Bangladeshi played on. Wicket.

WICKET: Shakib Al Hasan b Rajat Bhatia 3 (9b)

A single to Yusuf Pathan, the new man, and a dot ball. A single to Yadav to end the over. Three singles and a wicket.

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Over 6 || Score 59/2 (Yadav 40; Al Hasan 3)

Ravichandran Ashwin continued for his second over. A wide, on the leg and a subsequent stumping call, to start the over.

A straight six by Suryakumar Yadav. Impressive hitting. A single followed, then a single to Shakib Al Hasan.

Another single, off the fifth ball. 10 runs from the over. And power-play over. TIME-OUT.

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Over 5 || Score 49/2 (Yadav 32; Al Hasan 2)

Thisara Perera returned for his second over. One tidy over from the Sri Lankan pacer.

A single to Suryakumar Yadav to start the over. A dot followed, then a single to Shakib Al Hasan. Then a dot ball, before Yadav hit uppishly for a straight four.

A single to end the over.

Kolkata Knight Riders need another 112 runs from 15 overs.

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Over 4 || Score 42/2 (Yadav 26; Al Hasan 1)

Spin on for Pune, and 11 runs from Ravichandran Ashwin's first over.

A dot ball to Suryakumar Yadav to start the over. A single, then a dot ball to Shakib Al Hasan. Another single, then Yadav hit a six over long-on.

A wide, then another wide and a single to end the over.

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Over 3 || Score 31/2 (Yadav 18; Al Hasan 0)

Two fours of successful deliveries, and Suryakumar Yadav has got himself into a great position to lead the chase. A dot ball, and a single. The the wicket, unnecessary run out. They could have settled for a single, but on the second, Gautam Gambhir found himself short against the ball from Saurabh Tiwary. MS Dhoni was dead sure.

WICKET: Gautam Gambhir run out 11 (5b)

Shakib Al Hasan, the new man. 10 runs and a wicket.

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Over 2 || Score 21/1 (Gambhir 10; Yadav 9)

Thisara Perera shared the new ball with Albie Morkel. A single to Gautam Gambhir to start the over. Suryakumar Yadav took four deliveries to hit a four, then a single. Six runs from the over.

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Over 1 || Score 15/1 (Gambhir 9; Yadav 4)

First wicket off the first ball. First for this IPL. LBW Robin Uthappa, wicket to Albie Morkel.

WICKET: Robin Uthappa lbw b Albie Morkel 0 (1b)

Suryakumar Yadav is the new man, and two wides on the leg.

Skipper Gautam Gambhir then hit two fours of two balls — both through the slip cordon, with first one intentionally played, and second one a lucky thick edge. A tight single followed, then a dot, then a four through cover.

15 runs and a wicket to the start the chase.

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RISING PUNE SUPERGIANTS INNINGS

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Over 20 || Score 160/5 (Dhoni 23; Bhatia 1)

Morne Morkel on for the final over.

MS Dhoni took a double off the first delivery, pushed to wide long on. Good running between the wickets.

It was followed by a huge six, pulled with some power. Then a slower bouncer, with the ball — arriving late in slow motion and hitting Dhoni's handles.

Then a four. Cranked up, through mid-wicket.

Another four, pulled over short fine-leg.

A single to end the 17-run over.

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Over 19 || Score 143/5 (Dhoni 6; Bhatia 1)

Another over, another first ball wicket, for the second successive over.

Umesh Yadav started with the wicket of Albie Morkel. Played on.

WICKET: Albie Morkel b Umesh Yadav 16 (9b)

A single to the new man Rajat Bhatia., followed by a four byes. Bumpy.

It was followed by two doubles, then a single. A wicket and 10 runs from Yadav's second over.

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Over 18 || Score 133/4 (A Morkel 16; Dhoni 1)

Sunil Narine on for his final over. And a wicket, that of Ajinkya Rahane to start it. Caught and ball.

WICKET: Ajinkya Rahane c & b Sunil Narine 67 (52b)

MS Dhoni, the new man, took two balls to opened the scoring, with a single.

Then, Albie Morkel hit two sixes off successive deliveries. A single to end the over. 14 runs and a wicket. Narine's figures: 4-0-32-1.

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Over 17 || Score 119/3 (Rahane 67; A Morkel 3)

Gautam Gambhir finally introduced Umesh Yadav into the attack.

A single to Ajinkya Rahane, then two more singles. A leg bye off the fourth ball with Albie Morkel on strike.

Rahane played improvisation to the best for a six over fine leg boundary.

A single, and 11 runs from the over.

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Over 16 || Score 108/3 (Rahane 58; A Morkel 2)

Piyush Chawla returned for his third over, and leaked eight runs.

A single to Albie Morkel, then Ajinkya Rahane blocked two deliveries before hitting a six, over long-off. A single and a dot ball followed.

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Over 15 || Score 100/3 (Rahane 51; A Morkel 1)

An eventful over from Rajagopal Sathish. First IPL wicket for the medium pacer, and ten runs.

Ajinkya Rahane took a single off the first ball of the over, for his fifty. A six followed from Thisara Perera, over mid-wicket.

Two singles more, then the wicket of Perera. Bowled.

WICKET: Thisara Perera b Rajagopal Sathish 12 (9b)

A single to the new man Albie Morkel.

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Over 14 || Score 90/2 (Rahane 49; Perera 5)

Sunil Narine on for his third over. One tidy over. A single off the first ball to Ajinkya Rahane, then a dot ball.

Thisara Perera took a double, then a leg-bye followed. A single to Rahane, then a call for run-out off the last ball, with Perera at the danger end. Close one.

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Over 13 || Score 83/2 (Rahane 47; Perera 1)

Rajagopal Sathish returned for his second over. A single to Steven Smith, then wicket. Steven Smith, for the second time, gets runs out. This time, he backs himself too far, and Sathish gently dislodged the bails from a follow through fielding.

WICKET: Steven Smith run out 31 (28b)

With the wicket, a good 56-run partnership also gone. Thisara Perera is the new man. A wicket and four singles.

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Over 12 || Score 79/1 (Rahane 45; Smith 30)

Sunil Narine returned for his second over. Another busy over as the West Indian mystery spinner leaked 8 runs, including a four.

A single to Ajinkya Rahane to start the over. A dot ball followed, to Steven Smith. The Aussie batsman then played a perfectly executed shot, and found the gap in mid-wicket for his second four.

A double, then a single to end the over.

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Over 11 || Score 71/1 (Rahane 44; Smith 23)

One busy over from Piyush Chawla. Lots of running, and some frenetic fielding efforts.

A double to Steven Smith to start the over, then a single. Ajinkya Rahane got a thick edge which beat Robin Uthappa behind the stumps, but good chase from skipper Gautam gambhir to cut it to three runs.

Another double to Smith, then two singles. 10 runs from the over.

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Over 10 || Score 61/1 (Rahane 40; Smith 17)

First glimpses of Rajgopal Sathish in bowling action. Effective slow right-arm medium pace from the Tamil Nadu player. Six runs from the over — four singles and a double.

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Over 9 || Score 55/1 (Rahane 36; Smith 15)

Another bowling change for Kolkata. Piyush Chawla on. A dot ball to Steven Smith to start the over, then a single towards mid-wicket.

Ajinkya Rahane played the next ball with a big stride, and swept for a four. Three singles followed and an 8-run over.

TIME-OUT.

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Over 8 || Score 47/1 (Rahane 30; Smith 13)

Shakib AL Hasan returned for his third over, and four runs — all singles — from the over.

His figures so far, 3-0-14-1.

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Over 7 || Score 43/1 (Rahane 28; Smith 11)

And once pace attack is back, runs coming thick and fast.

Gautam Gambhir, for whatever reasons, brought back Andre Russel into the attack, and the West Indian leaked 12 runs, with two fours.

It started with a double to Steven Smith, then a single. Ajinkya Rahane timed his pull shot on the back foot for a four. A dot ball, then a single.

Smith, then, countered well Russell's yorker with a four through mid-wicket.

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Over 6 || Score 31/1 (Rahane 23; Smith 4)

KKR are rushing through the overs. Another quick over, three singles from Shakib Al Hasan's second over.

Since the introduction of spinners from both the ends, KKR have taken a decisive control over the hosts.

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Over 5 || Score 28/1 (Rahane 22; Smith 2)

Double bowling change for KKR. Sunil Narine on, and a good over the start for the West Indies spinner.

Two dot balls of the first two balls, to Ajinkya Rahane. Then four singles between him and Steven Smith.

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Over 4 || Score 24/1 (Rahane 20; Smith 0)

First bowling change, Shakib Al Hasan on for Kolkta Knight Riders.

A dot ball to Ajinkya Rahane to start the over. Then, a four with Rajgopal Sathish making a valiant attempt at mid-wicket boundary to stop the ball.

Three singles followed, than the wicket of Faf du Plessis. Clean bowled.

WICKET: Faf du Plessis b Shakib Al Hasan 4 (9b)

Steven Smith is the new man.

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Over 3 || Score 17/0 (Rahane 14; du Plessis 3)

Morne Morkel continued for his second over, and Ajinkya Rahane welcomed him back with a six over square leg.

Two dot balls followed, then the Indian batsman picked the fourth delivery well and hit for a four through mid-wicket.

It was followed by a single, then a dot ball to end the 11-run over.

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Over 2 || Score 6/0 (Rahane 3; du Plessis 3)

Andre Russell on with the second over of the match. The West Indian all-rounder produced a tidy over, conceding four singles.

Highlight of the over was a brilliant stop at backward point by Rajgopal Sathish off a well-timed Ajinkya Rahane cut shot.

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Over 1 || Score 2/0 (Rahane 1; du Plessis 1)

Morne Morkel started the proceedings, with a dot ball to Ajinkya Rahane. A single off the next ball. A dot ball to Faf du Plessis. It was followed by two more dot balls, before a single to Plessis.

Brilliant start for KKR. Two singles.

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Dhoni at the toss referring to his stubble - When I started off in the IPL there was a lot of pepper, then salt & pepper, now only salt. — Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 24, 2016

Here are the teams:

Rising Pune Supergiants: Ajinkya Rahane, Faf du Plessis, Steven Smith, Saurabh Tiwary, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt. & wk), Thisara Perera, Albie Morkel, Rajat Bhatia, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ankit Sharma, Murugan Ashwin

Kolkata Knight Riders: Robin Uthappa (wk), Gautam Gambhir (capt.), Suryakumar Yadav, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Rajgopal Sathish, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav

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Pune players warming up

.@RPSupergiants boys are warming-up ahead of their game against @KKRiders #RPSvKKR #VIVOIPLhttps://t.co/y7Eey96FxA — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 24, 2016

KKR appetiser 

#KKR have taken more wickets than any other team this #VIVOIPL2016 - 29 wickets #RPSvKKR #AmiKKR #KKRStats — KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 24, 2016

Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered a 6-wicket defeat to Gujarat Lions despite skipper Virat Kohli's maiden T20 ton.

TOSS: Gautam Gambhir wins the toss, and Kolkata Knight Riders will bowl first in Pune

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Match officials:

Umpires: Chris Gaffaney and Nand Kishore
Third Umpire: Virender Sharma
Match Referee: Chinmay Sharma
Reserve Umpire: Yeshwant Barde

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SQUADS

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautham Gambhir (capt.), Piyush Chawla, John Hastings, Brad Hogg, Jason Holder, Sheldon Jackson, Kuldeep Yadav, Chris Lynn, Manan Sharma, Morne Morkel, Colin Munro, Sunil Narine, Manish Pandey, Yusaf Pathan, Ankit Rajput, Andre Russell, Rajgopal Satish, Shakib Al Hasan, Jaydev Unadkat, Robin Uthappa, Suryakumar Yadav and Umesh Yadav.

Rising Pune Supergiants: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, Kevin Pietersen, Faf du Plessis, Steve Smith, Mitchell Marsh, Jaskaran Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ankit Sharma, Albie Morkel, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Ishwar Pandey, Thisara Perera, Saurabh Tiwary, RP Singh, Rajat Bhatia, Ankush Bains, Baba Aparajith, Murugan Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Deepak Chahar, Scott Boland, Peter Handscomb, Adam Zampa.

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Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be eager to break the sequence of reverses and get Rising Pune Supergiants' campaign back on track when they lock horns with in-form Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League today.

Having moved to Pune this year from the suspended Chennai Super Kings, where he enjoyed great success, Dhoni will be keen to replicate that in his new jersey with a bit of help from his teammates.

So far, it hasn't been a smooth campaign for India's twin World Cup winning captain, barring the tournament opener against defending champions against Mumbai Indians, which his side won comprehensively by nine wickets at the Wankhede Stadium.

On the other hand, led by discarded India opener Gautam Gambhir, Kolkata Knight Riders have been on a roll, winning three of their four matches.

Such has been their form that the two-time former champions continue to top the standings in the eight-team league.

Barring the defeat against Mumbai Indians, the Knight Riders had been convincing in their wins.

Gambhir has been leading the team from the front and has held the orange cap for long. The left-handed batsman would be too happy to continue in same vein.

READ FULL PREVIEW HERE

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New Delhi: Welcome to our live coverage of the Match 20 of 2016 Indian Premier League between Rising Pune Supergiants and Kolkata Knight Riders, being played at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.