Punjab Kings got back on track with a two-wicket victory against Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday (April 15) in Lucknow. Sam Curran took three wickets and Sikandar Raza scored his first fifty in the Indian Premier League (IPL), all of which contributed to Punjab Kings’ success. After making the decision to field, PBKS limited the runs scored by the home team to 159, despite KL Rahul’s score of 74 off of 56 balls, and then chased down the total with three balls left.
Who was the most impressive performance during the entire day?
Not a one person in particular. Both sides were comprised of a variety of athletes, each of whom got their chance to shine. KL Rahul delivered a blow that was excruciatingly sluggish for the better portion of its duration but ultimately successful. In the final overs of the match, Sam Curran bowled really well. Yudhvir Charak, a pacer for Jammu and Kashmir, had a strong beginning to his career and took two wickets in his first game. During the crucial last overs, Ravi Bishnoi bowled really well. Shahrukh Khan delivered some lusty smashes on his way to an undefeated 23 off of 10 balls, which assisted his team in crossing the finish line in the frantic run chase.
Has K.L. Rahul been able to finally get back to his old self?
To be honest, no.
The skipper of the LSG team got a poor start, which has been a pattern for him during the whole season. Rahul was doing well, scoring at a rate of 21 runs for every 20 balls faced when the openers reached their half-century stand in the seventh over. Even Kyle Mayers, who hadn’t performed particularly well in any of the previous two matches, decided to take a more cautious approach in the match’s first four overs.
Before Mayers flicked Harpreet Brar to the fielder at fine leg, the two batsmen put up a partnership for the opening wicket that was worth 53 runs and took 46 balls to complete. Soon after that, Deepak Hooda lost his balance and tumbled, missing a more direct shot from Sikandar Raza while trying a slog and ending up stranded legbefore.
Soon after the powerplay, just as Rahul began to show signs that he intended to attack, the spinners for PBKS restricted Krunal Pandya’s scoring. This ensured that the hosts did not generate any momentum on a field where it was difficult to make shots. The pair contributed 38 runs in 5.4 overs, with Krunal only scoring 18 off 17 balls during his portion of the innings.
During the course of his knock, Rahul played several amazing strokes all around the ground. However, he didn’t attempt to play any high-risk shots too often, making him the fastest player (in terms of innings) to achieve 4,000 runs in the Indian Premier League. However, Punjab Kings were able to maintain control of the innings from the other end despite the fact that the scoring rate increased as his innings went.
What exactly was happening on the other end of the line?
During the 15th over, Kasgiso Rabada had two wickets fall thanks to his bowling, with Krunal and Nicholas Pooran being taken by Shahrukh Khan at deep mid wicket. Sam Curran and Arshdeep Singh’s spell in the death overs caused a flurry of wickets and also held LSG’s total in check. While Rahul and Marcus Stoinis delivered some lusty knocks throughout the course of their brief 31-run alliance, Sam Curran and Arshdeep Singh’s spell in the death overs. The hosts were unable to capitalize on the strong start they had with their opening pair.
On his IPL debut, Curran’s results of 3 for 31 were the best ever recorded by an IPL captain.
Where did PBKS begin their pursuit of the target?
Poorly. In the absence of the injured Shikhar Dhawan, Yudhvir recorded two wickets, the first of which was a fellow debutant, Atharva Taide, who was caught at fine leg for a duck in the first over, and the second of which was Prabhsimran Singh, who knocked over the stumps.
While Matthew Short knocked the pacers down with a flurry of boundaries as part of his 22-ball 34, he also went off the final ball of the powerplay, leaving the side reeling at 45 for 3, despite the fact that he was the one who took the pacers down with the boundaries. He was out in the first over of the spin bowling because he mistimed a shot off of K Gowtham to the mid off fielder.
Who kept the innings from lurching?
Sikandar Raza. As a result of LSG’s efforts to slow down the scoring rate, the Zimbabwean all-rounder had a difficult start to his innings. Despite being partnered with Harpreet Bhatia, he was only able to add a run-a-ball 30 while LSG maintained their lead in the competition. In spite of this, he decided to take on Krunal in the 13th over, when the needed rate was getting close to 10 runs per over, and he took a chance on the long leg side boundary. He struck two consecutive deliveries towards deep mid wicket for sixes, both of which hit the hand of the defender before going over the line. After that, he scored a boundary by pulling another delivery through the same fielder, Yudhvir, to bring the score back to level in the competition.
How did LSG respond to being attacked?
Before the 15th over, Rahul had not yet been successful in bowling Ravi Bishnoi on a pitch that favored spin bowlers. On the other hand, once the leggie was taken back into consideration, he started to bring LSG back into the competition. In his first over, Curran was out after he smashed the ball to the far off fielder, and then in his second over, Raza was out when he swept the ball to fine leg. In the next two overs, the score was brought down to 20 runs, and then a couple lusty smashes from Shahrukh and Harpreet Brar took it down to 7 runs in the final over.
In the last over, a pair of mishits by Shahrukh dropped short of the deep fielders, which allowed him to scamper twos before he sent the third ball over the extra cover boundary, which helped his team achieve a victory.
In a nutshell, the final scores were as follows: Lucknow Super Giants 159/8 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 74, Kyle Mayers 29; Sam Curran 3-31, Kagiso Rabada 2-34) fell to Punjab Kings 161/8 in 19.3 overs (Sikandar Raza 57, Matthew Short 34; Ravi Bishnoi 2-18, Yudhvir Charak 2-19) by a loss of 2 wickets.
