The Punjab Kings pulled off one of the most improbable wins you will ever see in T20 cricket when they defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by 16 runs in TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) action in Mullanpur on Tuesday.
The day started with the Kings, after winning the toss and batting first, being bowled out in just 15.3 overs for a lowly 111, or so they thought.
Openers Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya were the main run-getters with 30 and 22, respectively, as KKR’s variation of quick pace and hard to read spin proved too much for their counterparts.
Pacer Harshit Rana picked up 3-25 from three overs while spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy were brilliant with 2-14 from three overs and 2-21 from four overs, respectively.
The Kings failed to defend 245 in their last game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday so, naturally, the crowd at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium didn’t go into the second innings expecting much.
Things may have changed slightly when Narine (5) and Quinton de Kock (2) fell within three balls of each other to leave the score at 7-2 in the second over.
The mood shifted back, however, when captain Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi added 55 for the third wicket.
Rahane fell for 17 in the eighth over before Raghuvanshi fell two overs later for a top score of 37 to leave the defending champions 72-4.
In the blink of an eye, 72-4 became 79-8 thanks to some excellent bowling from leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and left arm pacer Marco Jansen.
KKR were eventually bowled out for 95 in the 16th over. Andre Russell tried his best with 17 from 11 balls but ran out of partners in the end. He was the last man dismissed.
Chahal finished with 4-28 from his four overs including two wickets in a match-defining twelfth over while Jansen picked up 3-17 from 3.1 overs.