Kings silenced the ‘city of joy’ with their ravishing boundaries and beautiful team effort and won by 8 wickets.
Image credits: BCCI
Jonny Bairstow smashed a century for the first time in IPL 2024, along with power hitter Shashank Singh who chased and finished off in style.
Kolkata Knight Riders is one of the best teams this IPL season and have been leading from the top throughout this season, On the other hand Punjab Kings even after constant effort had only won 2 matches and were second last on the points table. It was very easy for the Knight Riders fans to believe that they had this match in their hand also by looking at the target of 262 they were considering it an easy win.
At Eden Gardens on Friday, Jonny Bairstow shined as Punjab Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders to set a world record. With an undefeated 108 off 48, the opener led the PBKS innings and wrote history by leading the team in the most successful T20 chase ever. After chasing a massive 262 runs, PBKS completed their journey in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, after losing the toss and having to bat first, KKR registered an impressive 261 for 6. Openers Phil Salt scored 75 off 37 balls and Sunil Narine scored 71 off 32 balls, combining for 138 runs to lead KKR. But PBKS had the better of the match, controlling the second half of the match and winning by eight wickets in the end.
Punjab Kings openers Prabhsimran Singh scored 54 off 20 balls and Jonny Bairstow who hit 108* off 48 balls offering a great start. Shashank Singh scored 68* off 28 balls and finished the match off beautifully in style.
Just five runs were scored in Sunil Narine’s final over of the fifteenth over. In the over, Jonny Bairstow and Shashank Singh were able to salvage their wickets. In 30 balls, Punjab Kings required 61 runs with a set opener at the crease and also eight wickets in hand .
In just 45 balls, Jonny Bairstow reached his century, starting with Harshit Rana’s 16th over. Still, the task is not finished. He ought to remain there and help his side win this game. It was now 52 runs in 24 balls for PBKS.
Punjab Kings were clearly leading this chase after Shashank Singh hit three sixes in Dushmantha Chameera’s 17th over. In 18 balls, 34 runs were needed. With eight wickets remaining for PBKS, it is winnable.
Jonny Bairstrow and Sashank Singh (Image Credits: BCCI)
Punjab Kings had unleashed pure mayhem. In the penultimate over, Harshit Rana had been struck for twenty-five runs. In 12 balls, Punjab Kings needed to score 9 runs. Kolkata Knight Riders were defeated by Punjab Kings by eight wickets. Despite the defeat of Knight Riders Suniel Narine deserves an appreciation for his incredible performance with both the bat and the ball.
The last highest successful chase in T20 Men’s Cricket was by South Africa against West Indies in 2023 for 259 runs. Now Punjab Kings have recorded the most successful pursuit for victory in T20 history. For PBKS, this is a truly exceptional victory.
Kolkata’s skipper, Shreyas Iyer, believes that the total was good enough as well as that the batting performance was excellent. After a difficult few weeks, Sam Curran, the victorious skipper of Punjab, says the win is good and that cricket is becoming more like baseball. He also feels they deserved this victory. When high scores are attained, he claims that the smaller grounds combined with confidence, coaching, and dew toss all the statistics out the window.
