Picture : BCCI/IPL
Shikhar Dhawan Skippered Punjab Kings began their TataIPL 2023 on a winning note at their home in Mohali. They beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 runs by D/ L method as rain intervened towards the end of the KKR innings and play was no longer possible.
Earlier KKR under new Skipper Nitish Rana won the toss and asked Punjab to bat first . young Prabhsimran Singh got the Kings off to a flier with 23 off 12 . Skipper Shikhar Dhawan scored a controlled 40 . But it Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa who gave the innings the momentum with a blazing 32 ball 50 . Later on , Jitesh Sharma 21, Sikandar Raza 16 and English all- rounder Sam Curran struck lusty blows towards the end to remain unbeaten on 26. It saw Punjab reach 191/ 5 in 20 overs.
KKR bowlers struggled big . Experienced Tim Southee was expensive 2/44 ( 3. 2 overs) , Umesh Yadav 1/ 27 ( 4 overs) , Sunil Narine 1/ 40 ( 4 overs), Varun Chakaravarthy 1/ 26 , Shardul Thakur 0/ 43 ( 4 overs) . Under new Skipper Rana KKR will take time to settle down for sure.
In reply Kolkata Knight Riders struggled with loss of early wickets. Opener Mandeep Singh was out for 2 . Rahmanullah Gurbaz ( 22), Anukul Roy ( 4), Skipper Nitish Rana ( 24) , Venkatesh Iyer ( 34). Big hitter Andre Russell threatened to score big but fell for 19 ball 35 . There after soon rain came in and KKR were at 146/ 7 in 16 overs . They needed to be 153 inD/ L method. Hence Punjab won by 7 runs.
For Punjab Arshdeep Singh was the wrecker-in chief with superb figures 3/ 19 ( 3 overs), Sam Curran 1/ 38 ( 3 overs), Nathan Ellis 1/ 27 ( 3 overs) , Sikandar Raza 1/ 25 ( 3 overs)
KKR Impact Player: Venkatesh Iyer replaces Varun Chakravarthy
PBKS Impact Player: Rishi Dhawan replaces Bhanuka Rajapaksa
Match: IPL 2023, 2nd Match
Venue: Mohali | Date: April 01, 2023
