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Chandigarh: Kings XI Punjab stayed in contention in the race for playoffs with an upset victory over the second-placed Kolkata Knight Riders even as its top batsman Chris Lynn's 52-ball 84 went up in smoke in an Indian Premier League game at PCA Stadium in Mohali on Tuesday.
Punjab now have 12 points from the same number of matches and play Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant away.
KKR, on the other hand, remained second despite the defeat with 16 points from 13 outings. They have already made the knockout stages.
Lynn struck eight fours and three sixes but wickets fell around him as the men in purple failed to gun down a par target of 168 set by the hosts.
Rahul Tewatia (2/18) and Mohit Sharma (2/24) were the best bowlers for Punjab with the latter bowling a fantastic penultimate over leaking just nine runs and taking the wicket of out-of-form Yusuf Pathan (2).
The twice champions needed 20 runs off the last over but Colin de Grandhomme (not out 11) and Chris Woakes (not out 8) failed to drag their team over the line.
Narine (18, off 10-ball) failed to continue his fireworks as Mohit Sharma cleaned him up with a slower one.
Gautam Gambhir struggled to get going as Rahul Tewatia sent the in-form skipper back early and Robin Uthappa got out for a golden duck two balls later.
Stung by two wickets in quick succession, the visitors, who were 61/1 at the end of the first six overs, could not get going in the next four managing just 18 with Manish Pandey joining Lynn at the crease.
At no stage did Punjab throw in the towel with Sandeep Sharma bowling a superb 16th over where he conceded just five runs. Mohit followed that up with a economical over before Manish Pandey (18; 23b; 1x4, 0x6) and Lynn got out. While Pandey holed out to Axar Patel at deep midwicket, Lynn was run out.
Earlier, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals and could not get partnerships going as KKR restricted them to 167/6 in 20 overs.
Glenn Maxwell (44, off 25-ball) including six sixes and Wriddhiman Saha 38 stitched together a 71-run stand for the fourth wicket but it was KKR's England all-rounder Chris Woakes who stole the show with best bowling figures of 2/20 in his alloted four overs.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav also returned decent figures of 2/34 as the Gautam Gambhir-led side never let the Punjab batsmen pull away.
Axar (not out 8) and Tewatia (not out 14) were at the crease at the end of the innings.
Brief scores
Kings XI Punjab - 167 for (Maxwell 44, Saha 38, Woakes 2-20, Kuldeep 2-34)
Kolkata Knight Riders - 153 for 6 (Lynn 84, Tewatia 2-18, Mohit 2-24)
Result - Kings XI Punjab won by 14 runs
