Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
On Tuesday, April 15, the hosts, Punjab Kings (PBKS) defeated degending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 16 runs in match number 31 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. After being bowled out at a below par total of 111/10 in 15.3 overs, the PBKS bowlers and fielders came back from behind to pull off an exciting win in a nail-biting thriller.
For the unversed, after winning the toss, Shreyas Iyer, the captain of PBKS, decided to bat first. The opening duo of Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh did give a brisk start, but the former departed after scoring 22 off 12 balls. The new batter in Shreyas Iyer, also could not play a captain’s knock as he departed for a two-ball duck, followed by Josh Inglis’ wicket. The Punjab-based franchise lost four wickets inside the powerplay, adding worries in the camp.
Prabhsimran, who looked decent with the bat, having scored 30 off 15 balls was dismissed in the sixth over. None of the other batters could make much of an impact with the bat as Nehal Wadhera departed for 10, Shashank Singh also could not add much impetus, falling after scoring 18 off 17 deliveries. Eventually, disciplined bowling from KKR bowlers, bundled out the hosts at the score of 111 in 15.3 overs. While Harshit Rana scalped three wickets in his three overs, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine picked two each. Vaibhav Arora and Anrich Nortje also put one each in their bags, leaving PBKS at a below par score.
PBKS defends lowest total in IPL history vs KKR
In the run chase, KKR openers had a forgettable day out there in the middle as Quinton de Kock departed having scored two off four deliveries, Sunil Narine was dismissed off five runs. With skipper Ajinkya Rahane and impact player Angkrish Raghuvanshi looking good, Yuzvendra Chahal cleaned up the KKR skipper in his very first over.
The young Raghuvanshi’s innings was also not long-lived as he departed having scored 37 off 28 deliveries by Chahal in his very next over, followed by the wicket of Venkatesh Iyer (7) and Rinku Singh (2). With the Kolkata-based franchise still looking in the game, fell like pack of cards to the PBKS bowling attack, thus depleting at the score of 95 in 15.1 overs.
While Yuzvendra Chahal was the wrecker-in-chief, picking a four-wicket haul, Marco Jansen also did not disappoint, picking three wickets. On the other hand, all the other bowlers also finished among the wickets with the likes of Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh and Glenn Maxwell picking one each. With this win, PBKS not only defended the lowest total with ease, they jumped places to take the fourth spot in the IPL 2025 standings.
