Punjab Kings (PBKS) has taken contrasting routes to victory in its last two meetings against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL. Last year, the Kings completed a record chase of 262, and on Tuesday, they defended 111, the lowest total in the tournament’s history.
The spectators at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium leaped in joy when Marco Jansen cleaned up Andre Russell as the Knight Riders fell 16 runs short of the target.
Yuzvendra Chahal, brought in in the seventh over, led the home team’s historic fightback, claiming four for 28, including key wickets of Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Ajinkya Rahane, who put on a 55-run third-wicket stand after losing the openers early.
The duo played a few classic drives and seemed to steer the team to the two points comfortably. However, Chahal claimed Rahane off his fourth ball and had Raghuvanshi caught in the next over. Glenn Maxwell then trapped Venkatesh Iyer in front before Chahal had Rinku Singh stumped and Ramandeep Singh caught.
Russell hit the leg spinner for 16 runs, threatening to take the game away. However, Punjab’s bowlers were right on the money and didn’t let the game slip away.
Earlier, Harshit Rana triggered a top-order collapse which allowed Kolkata to restrict Punjab to 111. He claimed three for 25 inside the PowerPlay as the Kings lost four wickets before the fielding restrictions ended.
Despite losing early wickets, Punjab batters persisted with attack. Varun Chakavarathy and Sunil Narine stuck to the stump-to-stump line and picked two wickets each.
Shashank Singh hit a six and a four in his 18 off 17 to take PBKS’ total past the 100-run mark. However, Vaibhav Arora struck him in front, and a mixup between the last two batters found the home team walking back inside the 16 overs.