POWER PLAY UPDATE: Allen explodes on Eden Gardens track

Finn Allen of the Kolkata Knight Riders exploded onto the Eden Gardens surface tonight to give his side a lifeline in their must-win Indian Premier League clash against the Gujarat Titans, smashing 31 off just 15 balls - including two fours and two towering sixes - to drag KKR to a superb 56 for one after six overs.

The New Zealander was at his barnstorming best, taking on both Mohammed Siraj and South Africa's Kagiso Rabada, and it was against Rabada that he did his most stunning work - launching back-to-back sixes in the fourth over, the second a jaw-dropping whip over midwicket off a 148.9kph delivery that had no right to be hit that hard. Jason Holder dropped a regulation chance at cover in the third over that could have changed the game entirely, and Allen made him pay.

Rabada, bowling with real pace and aggression throughout his three powerplay overs, finished with figures of 3-0-30-0 - expensive by his standards, but not for a lack of trying. He hit speeds consistently above 144kph, beat the bat plenty, and even appealed against Angkrish Raghuvanshi for leg before but DRS showed with ball-tracking that it was just clipping leg bail - umpire's call.

It was Siraj, though, who drew first blood - claiming Ajinkya Rahane for a run-a-ball 14, the wicket also his 200th in T20 cricket, celebrated with his full theatrics. Rahane had earlier muscled Rabada over backward point for a gutsy six, but Siraj's late inswinger cleaned him up in style.

With KKR needing three wins to keep their playoff hopes alive and GT on the hunt for a qualification-sealing victory, the stakes at the old fortress could not be higher. At 56 for one after the powerplay, KKR have given themselves a real foundation - but the heavy lifting is just beginning. Watch for Rashid Khan with the ball.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Manish Pandey, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakravarthy, Saurabh Dubey, Kartik Tyagi

Impact Bench: Arora, Ramandeep, Tejasvi, Powell, Pathirana

GUJARAT TITANS: Shubman Gill (capt), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Jason Holder, Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Rashid Khan, Arshad Khan, Kagiso Rabada, R Sai Kishore, Mohammed Siraj

Impact Bench: Tewatia, Phillips, Rawat, Prasidh, Kushagra