PBKS vs KKR, IPL 2025: Chahal scripts record defence for Punjab Kings against Kolkata Knight Riders
Punjab Kings (PBKS) has taken contrasting routes to victory in its last two meetings against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL. Last year, the Kings completed a record chase of 262, and on Tuesday, they defended 111, the lowest total in the tournament’s history.
The spectators at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium leaped in joy when Marco Jansen cleaned up Andre Russell as the Knight Riders fell 16 runs short of the target.
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Yuzvendra Chahal led the home team’s historic fightback, claiming four for 28, including key wickets of Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Ajinkya Rahane, who put on a 55-run third wicket stand after losing the openers early. The duo played a few classic drives and seemed to steer the team to the two points comfortably.
Chahal, brought in the eighth over, claimed a sweeping Rahane leg before off his fourth ball; however, replays suggested he would’ve been not out had he reviewed. The leg spinner then lured Raghuvanshi in the next over with a tossed-up delivery and had him caught at backward point.
Venkatesh Iyer, too, went low to sweep but missed a flatter one from Glenn Maxwell, which hit him on the pads. In Chahal’s next trick, he had Rinku Singh off-balance and eventually stumped, beating him on the inside edge. The next ball, Ramandeep Singh attempted to paddle but got a top edge. Shreyas Iyer moved from first slip to leg slip to take the catch.
Russell threatened to take the game away when he hit Chahal for 16 runs, including two sixes and a four. However, Jansen ensured there were no late hiccups for Punjab.
Earlier, Harshit Rana imparted excessive backspin with his quick action, sliding the ball beneath the bat and triggering a collapse.
Opting to bat, the Kings began the innings well. Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh scored 33 runs in the first three overs, including a 20-run over of Vaibhav Arora.
Priyansh greeted Harshit too with a lofted six over covers but fell the next delivery, caught trying to pick the ball over deep square leg. Rana then beat Shreyas’ under-edge off the first ball, and when the Punjab captain tried to come under the ball off the next delivery, he ended up cutting it straight to deep point for a two-ball duck.
When Varun Chakaravarthy cleaned up Josh Inglis in the fifth over, instead of finishing the PowerPlay safely, Prabhsimran counter-attacked with two consecutive sixes. He used the pace off the ball to uppercut and then charged down the track to hit one over mid-off. However, Rana persistence with offering width paid off as Prabhsimran cut the ball to the backward point.
Despite losing four wickets inside the PowerPlay, Punjab batters continued attacking. Nehal Wadhera found two boundaries off Anrich Nortje but fell, aiming for the third through backward square leg.
Chakaravarathy claimed his second victim of the day as Glenn Maxwell failed to read a googly. Collapse forced PBKS to use the Impact sub early, but Suryansh Shedge, who replaced Prabhsimran, couldn’t make much of a difference and fell for four.
Shashank Singh put on a fight with his 18 off 17, including a six and a four to get Punjab past the 100-run mark, but Vaibhav Arora trapped him in front. In the same over, a mix-up between Arshdeep Singh and Xavier Bartlett led to the dismissal of the latter, ending the first innings inside 16 overs.
