New Delhi: Venkatesh Iyer and Andre Russell tried to chase 192 against Punjab Kings, but wickets at crucial points helped them win the game. Arshdeep Singh picked two wickets with the new ball and returned to dismiss Iyer in the death and take control of the game. While KKR had Shardul, Narine and Tim Southee who might have played winning cameos, but the rain was in favour of PBKS as KKR stood behind the par score.
Venkatesh Iyer played the anchor role with his 34 off 28 while Andre Russell went all guns blazing and scored 35 off 19, hitting three fours and two sixes. Rahmanullah Gurbaz also contributed 22 off 16 and captain Nitish Rana played a cameo of 24 off 17.
After losing seven wickets, as Shardul Thakur and Sunil Narine hit a six each, the drizzle turned into heavy showers and the match had to be called off.
Arshdeep Singh gave a great start to the Kings by dismissing Mandeep Singh on his first delivery and got Anukul Roy with some extra bounce in the same over. Nathan Ellis was clinical in hitting Gurbaz’s stumps to push KKR back to 29/3.
Arshdeep ended his three overs with 3 for 19 while Sam Curran got the most crucial wicket of Andre Russell after getting hit for a four and a six. Spinners Sikander Raza and Rahul Chahar also picked a wicket and using seven bowlers as compared to five by KKR worked in the favour of Punjab.
In the first inning, Bhanuka Rajapaksa scored a cracking 32-ball fifty while Dhawan played the anchor with 40 off 29. The fiery cameos by Sam Curran, Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma were crucial to get to a score of 191. Prabhsimran Singh fired 23 off 12 in the beginning and Jitesh Sharma scored 21 off 11. It was Sam Curran’s 26* off 17 that gave Punjab Kings the required finish after they lost two wickets in no time.
Umesh Yadav contained runs and also dismissed Rajapaksa to break the 86-run partnership between him and Dhawan. WHile Varun Chakravarthy bowled a brilliant over where he took Dhawan’s wicket and gave only one run. Despite their efforts, PBKS reached a good total and eventually won the game.
