On Tuesday, April 15, at the Mullanpur Cricket Stadium, Punjab Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 16 runs in Match 31 of the current Indian Premier League. This encounter, which ended up being a classic low-scoring thriller, was very exciting.
PBKS chose to bat first and was dismissed for 111 in 15.3 overs. Only Prabhsimran Singh hit at or above 200, scoring 30 runs off of 15. It was a pivotal 23-run partnership between Xavier Bartlett (11 off 15) and Shashank Singh (18 off 17) for the ninth wicket. After three overs, Harshit Rana took three wickets (3/25).
KKR responded by being skittled out for 95 with two fewer balls than their opponent. Ajinkya Rahane (17 off 17) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (37 off 28) made sure that KKR raced to 55 at the end of their powerplay. However, Yuzvendra Chahal (4/28) orchestrated the collapse of Raghuvanshi after he was fired.
Talking Points
1. Harshit Rana-Ramandeep Singh duo strike thrice
Harshit and Ramandeep Singh combined thrice to get rid of the top-order of PBKS. All of Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran, and Shreyas Iyer were dismissed with Ramandeep being the fielder and Harshit the bowler.
2. Angkrish Raghuvanshi provides much-needed counter-attacking punch
Raghuvanshi came in at a point where KKR had lost a couple of wickets quite early on in the chase. Alongside Rahane, the 20-year-old led the charge inside the powerplay. His brisk knock made it seem that KKR would run away with the game.
3. PBKS bowlers string together seven boundary-less overs
After the end of the powerplay, the bowling unit of the hosts applied the squeeze and did not bowl a single loose delivery for the KKR batters to capitalise. As a result, the seven-over spell produced a total of six wickets.
Who Said What?
Ajinkya Rahane, KKR (Losing Captain)
Nothing to explain, we all saw what happened there. Pretty disappointed with the effort. I’ll take the blame, played the wrong shot, although it was missing. He wasn’t very sure (his chat with Angkrish after being given out LBW). He said it could be umpire’s call. I didn’t want to take a chance at that time, I wasn’t sure as well. That was the discussion. Not really (was NRR in the mind?).
We batted really badly as a batting unit, we take full responsibility. Bowlers did really well on this surface, restricting a strong Punjab batting lineup to 111. As an individual, you still have to be confident and positive. On this wicket, batting with full face (was better).
Sweep was pretty hard to play. Keep the intent going but play cricketing shots. We were reckless and should take full responsibility. At the moment, too many things going in my head. It was an easy chase for us. When I go upstairs, need to keep myself calm and then think about what to say to the boys. Still have to be positive. Half of the tournament is still remaining. Have to address this and move forward.
Shreyas Iyer, PBKS (Winning Captain)
It is hard to express in words. I was just backing my instincts. I saw the ball turn a bit, asked Yuzi to control his breathing a bit. We needed to be attacking and the right players were in the right places. It is tough to talk right now and such wins make it special. I personally felt, when I went out to bat, I faced two balls – one stayed low and one hit the bottom of the bat, people were finding it difficult to sweep.
There was variable bounce in the wicket, we got a decent total to be honest, looking at the win of 16 runs,. The bounce was not consistent. We had this at the back of our mind and we asked the bowlers to keep this in mind. And they executed it. Two wickets in two overs that gave us that kind of momentum and the two batters came in and took the momentum towards them.
When we saw Yuzi came in and turn the ball, our hopes and expectations were higher and I wanted the field to be attacking and right in front of their face so that they make mistakes and the tide turned towards us. It is important we stay humble and not get over-hyped with this win. It is important we take all the positives from this game and try to execute from ball one in the next game.
Yuzvendra Chahal, Player of the Match
I think it was a team effort, we wanted to stay positive, take 2-3 wickets in the powerplay, pitch wasnt easy. There was turn in the pitch as well. My first ball turned, so Shreyas said let’s have a slip, we needed to take wickets to win this game because the runs were low. I always had self belief in myself. I always think about how to get the batters out, I varied my pace so that the batters had to put effort into hitting.
India
