Despite choosing to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders, Punjab Kings failed to make the most of their decision as they lost wickets at regular intervals throughout their innings.
The team suffered an early setback in the second over with the dismissal of Prabhsimran Singh, followed by Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Liam Livingstone, leaving them in a precarious position at 58/3 at the end of the powerplay.
Although Shikhar Dhawan and Jitesh Sharma managed to stabilize proceedings with a 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket, they both fell in quick succession, leaving Punjab at 124/5 with five overs left.
Varun Chakravarthy then added to the pressure by taking his third wicket of the day, Rishi Dhawan, but things turned around towards the end. Shahrukh Khan and Harpreet Brar played flashy cameos, contributing a total of 38 runs at a strike rate of over 200, which helped Punjab post a competitive total.
In pursuit of a target of 180, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Jason Roy got off to a blistering start, hitting boundaries early on. Even though Gurbaz was dismissed in the fifth over, the Kolkata Knight Riders managed to score a decent 52/1 in the powerplay.
However, Roy departed eight balls later, having scored an impressive 38 at a strike rate of almost 160, which gave the Punjab Kings an opportunity to make a comeback. Venkatesh Iyer’s slow cameo provided little momentum, but Nitish Rana kept KKR’s hopes alive with his aggressive batting. Rana and the captain added 51 runs off 38 balls, with both scoring at the same rate, before being dismissed by Rahul Chahar.
At this point, KKR needed 56 runs in 4 overs, but Andre Russell’s blistering 42, including three sixes in the penultimate over, kept their chances alive. In the end, it was Rinku Singh who sealed the deal with a boundary on the last ball of the match, completing his match-winning cameo of 21 runs off just 10 balls.