KL Rahul (74 from 56 balls) struck his first fifty of the season and become the fastest player to 4,000 IPL runs as the Super Giants posted 159-8 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.
Raza (57 off 41) put the Kings on their way to victory, but a tense game was in the balance before Shahrukh (23 not out off 10) finished off the job with three balls to spare to make it three wins from five for his side and consign Lucknow to only a second loss.
Harpreet Brar removed Kyle Mayers (29) to end an opening stand of 53 with Rahul after Sam Curran, taking over as captain with Shikhar Dhawan out due to a shoulder injury, won the toss and opted to field.
The Super Giants were reduced to 111-4 in a 15th over from Kagiso Rabada in which Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran departed, but Rahul ticked along on a surface that was by no means the easiest to bat on.
Rahul was finally removed by Arshdeep Singh in the penultimate over before Curran (3-31) struck twice in the last to keep Lucknow below 160.
Debutant Yudhvir Singh (2-19) struck an early blow in the run chase by getting Atharva Taide caught by Avesh Khan at third man in his first Kings over and also cleaned up Prabhsimran Singh.
Matthew Short (34) and Harpreet Singh (22) got starts but failed to go on and Curran fell cheaply trying to launch Ravi Bishnoi over the rope, but Raza was able to hang around and keep his side on course to reach their target.
Lucknow were scenting the win when Raza fell to Bishnoi and Mark Wood struck twice to set up a tense finish, but Shahrukh hit his first ball for six and won it with a four off Bishnoi in the final over
Rahul breaks another record
Lucknow skipper Rahul came to the party by anchoring the innings, reaching the 4,000 IPL runs landmark in record time.
The opener got there in his 105 innings, pushing Chris Gayle (112 knocks) down to second on the list of the quickest batters to hit that tally.
He got to his half-century in 40 balls, hitting a six and eight fours before falling to Arshdeep.
Raza rises to the occasion
Zimbabwe all-rounder Raza turns 37 this month and he showed all of his experience to show why he was given a first IPL chance by the Kings.
He hit three sixes and another four boundaries to reach his 50 from 34 balls and looked like being there at the end until Bishnoi ended his excellent knock.
Lucknow amassed 257-5 – a total that has been bettered only once in the competition, when Royal Challengers Bangalore totted up 263-5 against Pune Warriors on April 23, 2013, thanks to a record 175no from Chris Gayle that contained 17 sixes.
Ten years and five days on from that mighty effort from RCB and Gayle, Lucknow made sure their own impressive efforts did not go to waste as they bowled out Punjab for 201 to seal a 56-run win.
Stoinis clattered five sixes in his 72 from 40 balls, with Kyle Mayers (54), Ayush Badoni (43) and Nicholas Pooran (45) also scoring at a impressively rapid lick.
It was then Stoinis the bowler who removed Punjab captain Shikhar Dhawan in the first over of the reply, having him caught just inside the ropes.
The home side had no option but to go flat out for fast runs, but they lost Dhawan's fellow opener Prabhsimran Singh in the fourth over too.
Stoinis hurt his left index finger while fielding his own bowling and was taken out of the attack, saying after the match ended: "It's all right; it's been better. It is what it is and we'll get it scanned later."
Atharva Taide and Sikandar Raza looked to up the tempo of the Punjab reply, but the required run rate was up to around 17 an over by the midway point of the innings, the contest already all but over.
Raza fell for 36 from 22 balls, and Taide went for 66 from 36 when a top edge allowed Ravi Bishnoi to take an awkward return catch.
Yash Thakur removed Raza and then snatched three lower-order wickets as the batting became haphazard, finishing with figures of 4-37, while Naveen-ul-Haq weighed in with 3-30.
Bittersweet day for super Stoinis
His form has been patchy in this IPL campaign, but this game saw Stoinis make his mark, so it was cruel he should also suffer an injury blow. In seven previous innings this season, he had passed 21 runs only once, making 65 against RCB, and once he got going again the Punjab crowd witnessed another fine performance.
Stoinis appeared for the post-match presentation with his sore fingered bandaged, but he spoke with satisfaction about his batting effort, saying Lucknow had been determined to "cash in and take advantage of this beautiful batting wicket, so it was good fun".
Runs galore
This game's total of 458 runs made it the match with the third-highest combined tally in IPL history. It has been beaten only by the 469 runs produced by Chennai Super Kings versus Rajasthan Royals in April 2019, and the 459 between Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders in May 2018.
Malik took 4-28, with three of his wickets coming in a remarkable final over, as Sunrisers bowled out the Kings for 151 despite a 33-ball 60 from Liam Livingstone.
Livingstone plundered five fours and four sixes in the undoubted highlight of an innings in which Masood Shahrukh Khan (26) was the only other batter to score over 20.
Sunrisers got a wider range of contributions with the bat, Abhishek Sharma scoring 31 and Rahul Tripathi adding 34, with both falling to Rahul Chahar (2-28).
It was the unbroken stand of 75 between Aiden Markram (41) and Nicholas Pooran (35) that got Sunrisers over the line, however, doing so with seven balls to spare.
Markram finished things off in style, completing victory with a four and a six off successive deliveries.
Malik excellent at the death
Livingstone fell with the final delivery of the 19th over and Malik ensured there was no late blitz from the tail in the 20th.
He removed Odean Smith, Chahar and Vaibhav Arora before Arshdeep Singh was run out from the final ball of the innings.
Sunrisers surge continues
After an inauspicious start saw them lose their first two matches, Sunrisers are one of four teams level at the top on eight points, though they will need to improve their negative net run rate.
They have won four games in a row for the first time since 2020.
In a low-scoring match between the IPL's bottom two sides, Jason Holder's 47 not out was not enough for the Sunrisers to claim just a second win of the season.
Aiden Markram (27) top scored for Punjab, with captain KL Rahul (21) the only other player to knock off over 20 runs.
Holder was crucial to keeping Punjab to 125-7, as he took three wickets for 19 runs from his four overs, yet Mohammed Shami took the huge wickets of David Warner and Kane Williamson in his first two overs to deal the Sunrisers a blow.
The Sunrisers were reduced to just 20 runs in the powerplay, the lowest total in their IPL history, and despite Holder's unbeaten stand, which included five sixes, they did not have enough to get over the line.
Punjab's win takes them onto eight points, level with three other teams all hunting a play-off spot.
Holder's heroics not enough
There was no doubting who the star of the show was on Saturday, with West Indies international Holder brilliant with both the bat and ball. Yet his efforts proved fruitless, with Nathan Ellis managing to keep him at bay in the final over.
"It is a tough loss. We left a little bit too much in the back end to do. That's how the game plays. We were behind the eight ball. I just wanted to give myself a chance and strike well," said Holder.
Shami and Bishnoi strike
The Sunrisers' confidence was knocked early by Shami (2-14), as he dismissed Warner (2) and Williamson (1) to stifle the chase before it had even got started.
Ravi Bishnoi then added three wickets for just 24 runs to apply further pressure, skittling through Hyderabad's middle order.
Steve Smith, Sanju Samson and Rahul Tewatia all made key contributions with the bat as the Royals pulled off a stunning four-wicket triumph to make it two from two in the early stages of the 2020 season.
Agarwal shared in an opening stand worth 183 with in-form skipper KL Rahul as he made a magnificent 106, helping Kings XI post 223-2 after being put into bat.
Nicholas Pooran produced a late cameo, making 25 from just eight deliveries, though his most notable contribution came later in the field with a gravity-defying stop in the deep.
Rajasthan lost Jos Buttler early in their reply, yet captain Smith made 50 in a hurry to make sure his team remained up with the required rate.
Samson top scored with 85 from just 42 deliveries but, after he became the first of three wickets for seamer Mohammed Shami, Tewatia took over.
The left-hander vindicated his unexpected promotion up the order, overcoming a sluggish start to blast his team towards their target. Sheldon Cottrell suffered the most, taken for five sixes in an over that cost 30.
Jofra Archer smashed two maximums to finish 13 not out before fellow England international Tom Curran delivered the winning blow, sending his first ball to the boundary midway through the last over.
OPENERS CAUSE ROYAL ISSUES
Having made 132 not out against Bangalore Royal Challengers last time, right-hander Rahul was again in the runs for Kings XI.
The India batsman made 69 from 54 deliveries but played second fiddle to opening partner Agarwal, who hit seven sixes and 10 fours to reach three figures from just 49 deliveries.
Their partnership is the third highest for the first wicket in the competition, while this was Agarwal's maiden IPL century.
POORAN TAKES OFF
Samson appeared to have hit Murugan Ashwin for six when he launched the spinner deep to midwicket in the eighth over of the Royals' innings.
However, Pooran had other ideas. Leaping backwards beyond the boundary, he managed to catch the ball before flicking it back into play prior to him hitting the ground, timing the release to perfection.
COTTRELL GOES THE DISTANCE
Tewatia, whose solitary over with the ball went for 19 runs, had 17 to his name from 23 balls at one stage. Then, with 51 required from the final three overs, everything changed - most notably his strike-rate.
He certainly took a liking to Cottrell's bowling, turning what appeared to be a tall order into a straightforward equation.
A solitary dot ball spared the left-armer completing the unwanted full set of sixes in the over, but the sudden onslaught turned the game at a crucial stage.
The Titans looked to be strolling to a win before Gill fell in the final over, with Gujarat needing all but one ball of their 20 overs to reach the target of 154.
Punjab's innings got off to a poor start when Prabhsimran Singh was out for a second-ball duck after inadvertently lobbing Mohammed Shami to Rashid Khan, before captain Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed by Josh Little for just eight.
Matt Short was going well on 36 from 24 balls before a superb delivery from Rashid bowled the Australian.
Jitesh Sharma helped steady things with 25 from 23 before edging Mohit Sharma to Wriddhiman Saha, but Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Sam Curran played some risk-free cricket to make sure the Kings had some wickets in hand for the closing overs.
Rajapaksa fell for 20 with three overs left, with Curran following soon after for 22, though a quickfire 22 from Shahrukh Khan helped them to a final total of 153-8.
Saha and Gill put on an opening partnership of 48 inside the first five overs before the former picked out Short at deep square leg off the bowling of Kagiso Rabada for 30.
Sai Sudharsan added 19 before being dismissed by Arshdeep Singh, while Hardik Pandya matched his fellow captain by also only managing eight runs before departing.
Gill was dramatically bowled by Curran in the final over as the Titans were left needing six from the final four balls, and then four from two, but Rahul Tewatia swept a four with the penultimate delivery to seal the win for Gujarat.
Gill dethrones Kings again
It was a superb effort from Gill, who hit four fours and one six as his 67 from 49 balls took the Titans to victory.
This was his fifth 50 against the Kings, his highest tally against any single opponent in the IPL, while no player has logged more scores of 50+ runs against Punjab than Gill since his IPL debut in 2018.
Dhawan cannot find the power
Shikhar Dhawan was unable to produce a much-needed captain's innings for the Kings, trying to loft Little's delivery over mid-on, but only finding the safe hands of Alzarri Joseph.
He has been dismissed 85 times during powerplay overs in the IPL, the most of any player and at least 15 more times than any other in the competition's history (Parthiv Patel second on 70).
A career-best 96 off 59 balls for Gill laid the groundwork for Tewatia, who hit two sixes off the final two balls to get the Titans over the line for a third win from three matches.
The Kings, who have now won two and lost two, had earlier reached 189-9 from their 20 overs at the Brabourne Stadium after losing the toss and being forced to bat first.
Liam Livingstone top scored before being dismissed for 64 by Rashid Khan (3-22), while Shikhar Dhawan (35), Jitesh Sharma (23) and Rahul Chahar (22) also played handy cameos.
Set a target of 190 for victory, Gill kept the runs ticking along as he registered his 12th IPL half-century, but Gujarat were still 96 runs with 60 balls remaining.
Gil fell in the 19th over to the bowling of Kagiso Rabada, at which point the Kings had 18 runs to defend from six balls.
The loss of Hardik Pandya (27) from the first delivery of the final over seemed to spell the end, but Tewatia's late heroics ensured the Titans pulled off an unlikely triumph.
Smith unable to keep Tewatia at bay
Odean Smith was the man tasked with keeping Gujarat at bay with those final six balls, but he was unable to do so and the Kings now find themselves sixth in the table.
Rabada showed Smith how it is done earlier in the contest as he ended with figures of 2-35.
The Shubman show
Gil scored 84 off 46 balls against Delhi Capitals last time out and bettered that score against the Kings, hitting 11 fours and one maximum.
That allowed Tewatia (13 not out) to steal the headlines as he made up for some poor bowling in his lone over, which went for 24 runs, with a brutally effective batting display.
Punjab captain Dhawan, who was dropped twice by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, fell agonisingly short of three figures against his former side, blasting the last ball for six to drag the Kings to 143-9 in Hyderabad.
Mayank Markande had rattled through the Punjab batting line-up with an incredible 4-15 through the middle overs before Dhawan contributed to 52 of the 55-run last-wicket stand with Mohit Rathee (1 not out).
Sam Curran (22) was the only other Kings batter to hit double figures as Marco Jansen (2-16) and Umran Malik (2-32) impressed, although the Sunrisers allowed Punjab back into the game after they were 88-9.
Hyderabad made a stuttering start to their chase as Harry Brook fell for 13 when bowled by Arshdeep Singh (1-20) before Rahul Chahar (1-28) removed Mayank Agarwal (21) to leave the hosts 45-2 after 8.3 overs.
But Tripathi stepped up with an expert 74 from 48 deliveries, combining with Sunrisers skipper Aiden Markram (37 not out) in a vital 100-run partnership to see Hyderabad over the line with 17 balls left.
Bhuvneshwar sets early tone for Sunrisers
Bhuvneshwar (1-33) dismissed Prabhsimran Singh leg before wicket with the first ball of the match to set the tone, albeit his erroneous catching efforts afforded Dhawan two lifelines later in the Kings innings.
Veteran star Bhuvneshwar has dismissed an opening batter 55 times in the IPL, the most by any seamer in history and third among all bowlers (Ravichandran Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh have 61 each).
Non-existent support for remarkable Dhawan
Dhawan was left without support despite his incredible effort. He accounted for 69.2 per cent of his side's total, the second-highest percentage of a team's runs in IPL history when batting first (after Brendon McCullum scored 158 not out in Kolkata Knight Riders' 223 versus Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008).
Opener Dhawan smashed 12 fours and cleared the ropes five times in his well-crafted 66-ball innings, becoming the leading run scorer in the embryonic IPL batting charts after taking his tally to 225.
The 41-year-old T20 superstar is yet to make an appearance for Kings XI who are off to a slow start to the IPL season. After 5 games, the team sits at the bottom of the table with just one win and four losses. The team has, however, so far not necessarily struggled with batting, having scored over 200 in two of the five games.
Jaffer, however, believes that Gayle’s match-winning capabilities could yet help the team turn their poor form around.
“It should happen soon. As I said, it needs to happen sooner than later. We don’t want to bring them when every game is a must-win game. Hopefully, we will have those guys featuring soon,” Jaffer told news agency Press Trust of India from Dubai.
“Chris looks very much ready and is keen to get on to the park, he has been training really well and has looked really good in the nets,” Wasim Jaffer said.
“He is such an impact player, we all know what he can do. I hope he turns up and turns it on straight away and changes the tide for all of us. He looks hungry and that is a very good sign for the franchise,” he added.
“I am hoping he plays quickly. We need match-winners, as many as possible. Not just for the next game, also for the rest of the tournament as he can easily win you four-five games on his own,” he further said.
In fact, the 41-year-old big hitter only just made his first appearance in the IPL this season on Thursday, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, with KXIP having previously played seven games. Their results in those fixtures, many would argue, should have necessitated a much quicker introduction to the line-up for the 'Universe Boss' with the team having won just one of those games.
On debut, Gayle smashed 53 runs from 45 balls, a total that included five 6s, as the team coasted to an 8-wicket win. The win was a first in five games.
“Good to see @henrygayle back and scoring a wonderful 53. Wonder what @lionsdenkxip were thinking by leaving him out all this while,” Tendulkar said via social media platform Twitter.
Gayle was expected to have been included in the line-up in the previous week but was hospitalised after experiencing a stomach illness. There has been little information regarding why the player was kept out the line-up at the start of the season and for so many games subsequent. KXIP will next play Mumbai Indians on Sunday, where the player is expected to feature again.
Gayle made a steady 43 from 35 deliveries, and along with KL Rahul, who added 60 from 52, anchored Kings XI to an 8-wicket win.
The batsman’s innings was, however, uncharacteristically devoid of massive slogs over the boundary as he hit only two sixes. The 41-year-old did gather quite a few runs darting for quick singles, which has not been a part of his game in recent years.
The veteran batsman had come under criticism in recent days following a string of low scores and a 1-3 start for Punjab. Gayle, however, insists he is feeling in excellent shape and was happy for the result.
"I am feeling very good, a bit relieved. We wanted this win badly, playing against the defending champions was always going to be tough. They played four games, to actually get this win is fantastic for the team and the Universe Boss as well.
“I was looking pretty good, running between the wickets, I am feeling fit and good about myself. I am enjoying it, I am looking after my body, getting a lot of massages so I can move freely, humidity here in Chennai also kind of lets the blood flow so I am on top of my game," Gayle told the official IPL website.
