IPL 2024: Punjab Kings beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets

The Punjab Kings beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets in Kolkata. Punjab scored 262 runs in 18.4 overs, losing only two wickets. Jonny Bairstow was Punjab’s highest scorer, remaining undefeated at 108 runs. Shashank Singh scored 68 runs.

Earlier, when called into bat, Kolkata scored 261 for the loss of six wickets in the allotted twenty overs. Philip Salt was Kolkata’s highest scorer with 75 runs, followed by Sunil Narine with 71 runs. Punjab won the toss and decided to bowl.

Jonny Bairstow was named Player of the Match. The Kolkata Knight Riders are second in the points rankings, having won five of eight matches, while the Punjab Kings are ninth with three wins from nine matches.

PBKS captain Sam Curran initially won the toss and chose to bowl. Ramandeep Singh stayed undefeated for KKR, but Venkatesh Lyer (39) and Rinku Singh (5) were dismissed in the last over by Harshal Patel. Earlier, Phil Salt scored a half-century, while his opening partner Sunil Narine did the same. Narine scored 71 runs off 32 balls before being bowled by Rahul Chahar. Meanwhile, Salt went for 75 off 37 balls, losing his wicket to Curran. Arshdeep Singh also dismissed Andre Russell (24) and Shreyas Lyer (28) as KKR scored 261/6 in 20 overs.

Jonny Bairstow’s century insured that the Punjab Kings would make history at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday, chasing the biggest total ever set by an IPL team against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Along with Bairstow, Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh made significant efforts to make the unbelievable feasible. Aside from Sunil Narine, KKR’s bowling lineup has been disappointing yet again.

Chasing 262, PBKS stormed to 262/2 in 18.4 overs, thanks to an unbroken tonne from Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow scored an unbeaten 108* off 48 balls. Meanwhile, Shashank Singh (68*) recorded an unbroken half-century. Prabhsimran Singh (54) also scored a half-century for PBKS, while Rilee Rossouw succumbed to Sunil Narine for 26 off 16 balls.

Curran: “Very pleasing. Most importantly the win, cricket has turned to baseball isn’t it? We’re delighted with the two points. We had a tough few weeks as a team. Forget about the scores, we deserved this victory. Loads of different things, guys can hit balls for long periods of time, the coaches, training, the dew, dot balls become wide after reviews and you get the extra ball. Stats are going of the window. For us, it’s all about the small moments. With the ball also we hung in there. Really pleased for Jonny, he’s been on tour for a long time and was eager to score. Shashank, wow, he was promoted to No. 4 and he’s been our find of the season. We’ve to enjoy the small wins, although this was a big win coming to Kolkata.”

Bairstow, Player of the Match: “We got off to a good start and that was key. They got a flier themselves thanks to Sunil so we knew we had to go ballistic in the powerplay. Not really, you’ve got to take risks to go on. When you’ve to chase 200-plus you’ve to take risks in the powerplay. Try and whack it as hard as possible. It was a case of if it’s in your area you go after it. We wanted to lose as few wickets as possible. Shashank has done it all season, a lovely guy and special player. To have someone like him coming in and do that is unbelievable. His knowledge, he’s not young either, he’s nice and calm, full credit to him the way he came out and hit it cleanly.”

Brief scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders: 261/6 in 20 overs (Phil Salt 75, Sunil Narine 71).

Punjab Kings: 262/2 in 18.4 overs (Jonny Bairstow 108, Prabhsimran Singh 54, Shashank Singh 68).