Punjab Kings Beat Kolkata Knight Riders By 7 Runs

Mohali: Punjab Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 runs (via DLS method) in Match 2 of the TATA IPL at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s free-flowing 50 off 32 balls and Shikhar Dhawan’s composed 40 (29) helped PBKS post a competitive 191/5. Arshdeep Singh led from the front with the ball and bowled a brilliant spell of 3/19 as a collective bowling effort from the bowlers saw PBKS restrict KKR to 146/7. PBKS won the match by 7 runs via the DLS method in the rain-affected match.

Chasing 192, KKR got lucky first up as Mandeep Singh survived a run out chance trying to go for a risky single in the first over. The fielder missed a direct hit and Mandeep would have been short. Rahmanullah Gurbaz though got going straight away with a massive six and a flicked four off the Curran over.

Mandeep’s luck didn’t last long as he mistimed a pull straight to deep mid-wicket as Arshdeep Singh struck off his very first ball. Anukul Roy got off the mark with a powerful loft over mid on for four but three balls later, Arshdeep sent him back as he mistimed his pull straight to mid-wicket.

KKR introduced Venkatesh Iyer as their Impact Player who replaced Varun Chakravarthy. The away side lost another wicket inside the Powerplay as Nathan Ellis cleaned up Gurbaz on 22, off his second ball of the match.

Earlier, KKR captain Nitish Rana won the toss and elected to bowl. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was handed his IPL debut as KKR named Suyash Sharma, Vaibhav Arora, N Jagadeesan, Venkatesh Iyer and David Wiese as substitutes. PBKS, on the other hand, handed debut to Sikandar Raza and named Rishi Dhawan, Atharva Taide, Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh Bhatia and Mohit Rathee as their substitutes.