April 15 witnessed history in 2024. Sunrisers Hyderabad blasted 287/3 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) – the highest total in the history of IPL. Fast forward one year. Punjab Kings defended 111 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) – the lowest total successfully defended in the tournament – and won the match by 16 runs. Let’s relive the historic day in new Chandigarh.
Shreyas Iyer against KKR
Shreyas Iyer was a man on a mission. The Punjab Kings skipper was up against his former side KKR with whom he won the IPL title last year. Opting to bat first, Punjab Kings were off to a flying start, thanks to openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh as they raced to 39/0 in 3.1 overs.
Harshit Rana, Iyer’s strike bowler in IPL 2024, struck twice for KKR in the fourth over with Iyer being one of them for a two-ball duck. Punjab Kings collapsed from 39/0 to 42/3. Varun Chakaravarthy (2/21) and Sunil Narine (2/14) pegged PBKS even further. The home team eventually got out for 111 runs in just 15.3 overs.
KKR’s flying start
KKR needed to achieve the target (112) in 14.1 overs to go to the top of the points table. It was the dominant narrative at the innings break and even at the end of the powerplay, as KKR recovered nicely from 7/2 at one point to to 62/2 at the end of the powerplay, with a fine 55-run stand between Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi.
The Yuzvendra Chahal show
The pivotal moment of the match came in the eighth over of the chase. Having taken just two wickets in the first five matches, Yuzvendra Chahal turned the game on his own head with a four wicket haul. Ajinkya Rahane failed to connect the slog sweep, and was given LBW. The KKR captain opted against using the review. The replays showed the impact to be outside the off-stump.
KKR were still well placed at 62/3. Chahal’s second over accounted for KKR’s top-scorer Angkrish Raghuvanshi (37 off 28). The visitors suffered a middle-order collapse as they went from 72/3 to 79/8 in no time. Venkatesh Iyer (7), Rinku Singh (2) and Ramandeep Singh (0) – all three retained players of KKR – couldn’t withhold the pressure as Chahal (4/28) and Glenn Maxwell (1/5) run riot.
Andre Russell threatened with a quickfire 17 off 11, with 16 of those coming in Chahal’s final over. Marco Jansen bowled the 91st and final ball of the innings, and Russell dragged the ball on to his stumps.
Shreyas Iyer, speaking at the presentation, said that it was tough to digest his team’s victory, whereas Ajinkya Rahane, the KKR captain, took full blame for the defeat, mainly for not opting for the review.
What’s next for KKR, Punjab Kings?
KKR have a five day gap before they host Gujarat Titans on April 21. Punjab Kings host the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday (April 18). RCB have won their four away games this season, and Shreyas Iyer & co will be looking to end that streak.
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