IPL 2025: PBKS vs KKR, Match 31: Stats Review of player records and achieved milestones

In Match No. 31 of IPL 2025, Punjab Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders in Mullanpur by defending a record-low score, executing one of the greatest comebacks in IPL history. With the victory, PBKS managed to move up into the top four in the tournament’s points standings.

Although PBKS’s openers got off to a fast start, the hosts were slowed down by Harshit Rana’s triple strikes (3 for 25) during the powerplay.

Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine contributed to PBKS’s downfall to a pitiful 111 in the middle overs.

Within eight balls of the chase, KKR lost both of their openers, but Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi formed a partnership that appeared to tip the scales in the Knights’ favour. Yuzvendra Chahal (4 for 28) comes in.

Rahane was dismissed by Chahal, which caused KKR to collapse. Chahal took four wickets as the team lost six for 17 runs in 31 balls. Although KKR was cruising in terms of the necessary run rate, they had taken too many wickets. Andre Russell made a final stand by hitting 16 runs in Chahal’s final over, but he was unable to hold onto the strike for the following over. Vaibhav Arora was given a vital wicket by Arshdeep Singh, leaving KKR with just one wicket remaining and 17 runs to chase off the final five overs. The home team had executed the IPL’s least successful defence after Russell sliced Marco Jansen on.

Here are the most important numbers from the match

1 – Glenn Maxwell’s batting average of 6.64 in the IPL since the start of 2024 is the lowest for any top six batter with a minimum of 10 innings in that period. In fact, Maxwell is the only one on the list to average in single digits.

1 – Sunil Narine moved up to be the highest wicket-taker against PBKS in the IPL and also broke the record for the most wickets against a single team in the IPL with 36 against Punjab Kings. Umesh Yadav with 35 wickets, also against PBKS, is second.

3 – Sunil Narine is now the joint-third highest wicket-taker in the IPL with 187 wickets. Bhuvneshwar Kumar also has the same number while Piyush Chawla (192) and Yuzvendra Chahal (211) are the only ones ahead. R Ashwin (185) is also hot on their heels.

1 – Yuzvendra Chahal became the highest wicket-taker against KKR in IPL history amassing 33 wickets against the defending champions going past Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 32.

3 – Chahal’s 33 wickets against KKR are the joint-third most wickets by a player against a single team in the IPL. Sunil Narine and Umesh Yadav, both against PBKS, have 36 and 35 wickets respectively. Dwayne Bravo and Mohit Sharma, both against MI, also have 33 wickets. Next two entries on the list are Bhuvneshwar Kumar against KKR and Chahal against his current team, PBKS, with 32 each.

1 – With 84, Arshdeep Singh is now the joint-highest wicket-taker for Punjab Kings in the IPL. Piyush Chawla also has as many but last played for the franchise in 2013.

1 – The 111 defended by PBKS in this match is the lowest total successfully defended in the IPL. The previous record was CSK’s successful defence of 116 against PBKS themselves all the way back in 2009.

1 – PBKS also hold the record for the highest successful chase in the IPL. Incidentally, both these records came against KKR.

5 – This was the fifth IPL match where all 20 wickets fell, i.e, both teams were all out. Needless to say, the team defending won the previous four as well.

4 – The collective batting average of 10.30 (206 runs for 20 wickets) in this match is the fourth lowest in IPL history. KKR’s game against RCB at Kolkata in 2017 had a collective match batting average of 9.00 after RCB were infamously dismissed for 49, still the lowest team total in IPL. That game is the only one with a collective average below ten in the IPL.

3,4 – In IPL 2025, KKR have won all three matches where Moeen Ali was a part of the playing XII and lost all four matches where the Englishman warmed the bench.