Bhanuka Rajapaksa timed the ball effectively to slam a pleasant half-century, whereas Arshdeep Singh picked three wickets as Punjab Kings opened their IPL 2023 marketing campaign with a seven-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders by seven runs by way of DLS methodology on the I.S. Bindra PCA Stadium on Saturday.
On a flat pitch and quick outfield, Punjab have been threatening to attain upwards of 200, as they reached 100 runs within the first 10 overs. But Kolkata, whose bowlers majorly struggled, picked 4 wickets within the second half as Punjab may make solely 91 runs to finish up at a rating 9 wanting 200.
All of Punjab`s batters acquired begins after being pushed into batting first, however solely Rajapaksa may attain the half-century mark, with the assistance of 5 fours and two sixes at a strike fee of 156.25.
In reply, Arshdeep starred to depart Kolkata at 29-3 in 5 overs. Despite late blows from Andre Russell, they reached 146/7 in 16 overs, just for heavy rain to reach. Kolkata have been seven runs behind the DLS par rating when rain arrived and finally misplaced the sport.
Punjab made an early breakthrough within the second over with Arshdeep getting a bit of additional bounce and cramped Mandeep Singh for room, who miscued the pull to deep mid-wicket. He closed the over by cramping Anukul Roy for room and getting him to drag straight to midwicket.
Nathan Ellis struck within the fifth over by having a formidable Rahmanullah Gurbaz miss a back-of-the-length supply and hit the highest of the off-stump. Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer, coming in as an Impact Player for Varun Chakravarthy, acquired on with the resurrection job by taking a 4 every off Sikandar Raza.
When Rishi Dhawan, coming in as an Impact Player for Bhanuka Rajapaksa, bowled the ninth over, Rana and Iyer used his shorter deliveries to hit three boundaries. But Raza got here again within the subsequent over to have Rana slashing straight to the backward level. Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar struck on the primary ball of the eleventh over as Rinku Singh slog-swept straight to deep mid-wicket.
With half the facet down, Russell tried to wage a fightback with a six and 4 off Chahar and Harpreet Brar respectively. An eventful 14th over from Ellis produced 18 runs, together with Iyer hitting a six off a no-ball. Moreover, Russell was dropped by Prabhsimran Singh working again from a brief high-quality leg simply after he hit a 4 by means of mid-off.
Russell then hit a low full toss from Curran over mid-wicket for six after which ramped a brief ball between backward level and quick third man for 4 extra. But Curran had the final snigger as Russell holed out to deep mid-wicket. In the following over, Arshdeep had his third wicket with the quick ball as Iyer guided straight to backward level. Shardul Thakur and Sunil Narine hit a six every earlier than rain stopped the proceedings.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 191/5 in 20 overs (Bhanuka Rajapaksa 50, Shikhar Dhawan 40; Tim Southee 2-54, Varun Chakravarthy 1-26) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 146/7 in 16 overs (Andre Russell 35, Venkatesh Iyer 34; Arshdeep 3-19, Rahul Chahar 1-12) by seven runs (by way of DLS methodology)
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