Three days after failing to defend 245 in Hyderabad, Punjab Kings (PBKS) produced a sensational bowling display to defend a paltry total of 111 at their new(ish) home ground in Mullanpur. On a quick and bouncy pitch, both sets of batsmen competed hard in the ineptitude stakes, but Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) prevailed with a scarcely believable collapse from 62-2 to 95 all out. No team in IPL history had defended less than 116 – CSK against Punjab in 2009 in South Africa – and the stunning win lifted Punjab into the fourth play-off spot.
Marco Jansen, who would castle Andre Russell with the first ball of the 16th over to end the game, cleaned up Sunil Narine early in KKR’s reply, and when Quinton de Kock clipped Xavier Bartlett – the Aussie pacer making his debut – to Suryansh Shedge in the deep, the home crowd in Mullanpur came alive. But a 55-run stand (37 balls) between Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Ajinkya Rahane, the skipper, appeared to calm KKR nerves, before a bizarre lapse of judgement changed the game.
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Yuzvendra Chahal had been taken for 56 in the previous game, but his fourth ball was a googly that Rahane missed while trying to sweep. The umpire upheld the appeal, and after a mid-pitch discussion, Rahane walked off without taking the review. Replays then showed the ball struck him outside off stump.
In Chahal’s next over, Raghuvanshi (37 off 28 balls) was superbly caught by Bartlett at backward point. When Glenn Maxwell then trapped Venkatesh Iyer in front, the cat was among the pigeons at 74/5. In his third over, Chahal had Rinku Singh stumped by a mile and Ramandeep Singh playing a silly nothing-scoop to short fine leg.
When the pace and bounce of Jansen made Harshit Rana chop on, PBKS were favourites with 32 still needed. But Russell, in awful form this season, slugged two huge sixes and a four in Chahal’s final over. Once again, however, the pendulum swung back, with Arshdeep Singh bowling a maiden over that ended with Vaibhav Arora nicking a bouncer behind. Jansen then sneaked one past Russell’s wild slog as the KKR dugout looked on in a daze.
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PBKS had started superbly, taking 33 from the first three overs. And when Harshit came on to bowl the fourth, the red-hot Priyansh Arya greeted him with a glorious lofted drive for six. The next ball, though, was clipped to backward square leg, where Ramandeep took a good low catch. Two balls later, Shreyas Iyer – KKR’s captain when they won the title in 2024 – followed, smashing Harshit over point only for Ramandeep to run in and take a stunning catch inches from the ground.
After that, the batting unravelled like cheap threads. Josh Inglis, on IPL debut, and Maxwell were both flummoxed by Varun Chakravarthy’s googly, while Prabhsimran, after a bustling 15-ball 30, slashed straight to Ramandeep at point. There were two wickets in a very tidy spell for Narine too, and PBKS were indebted to Shashank Singh’s 18 for taking the total into three figures. No one imagined then that it would be enough.
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