After a breathtaking opening game, the stage was set for Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings to open their account with a win. Kolkata Knight Riders won the Toss and Invited the Kings to bat first.
Punjab didn’t disappoint the fans out there and started the innings with a bang. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran opened for Punjab Kings, and the pair were looking in a fine touch until Tim Southee got rid of Prabhsimran 23(12). Bhanuka Rajapakse came out to bat with some serious intent and scored blistering 50 runs in just 32 balls.
Dhawan, on the other hand, showed composure but he was eventually knocked over by a beautiful delivery by Varun Chakarvarthy. He scored 40 runs with the help of 6 boundaries. And with the help of Jitesh Sharma’s 21(11), Sam Curran’s 26(17) and Shahrukh Khan’s 11(7), Punjab Kings managed to score a mammoth total of 191 for the loss of just 5 Wickets.
The KKR fans expected some fireworks from the lads but lost both the openers quite early. Arshdeep Singh showed his class first by sending Mandeep Singh to the pavilion on just 2 runs. He then got rid of inexperienced Anukul and trapped, dangerous-looking Venkatesh Iyer who was batting on 34 at that point.
Then came the Russell Muscle, the Caribbean was looking as good as he is but Sam Curran loves to get the big boy. Once again, Russell was sent to the pavilion by the most expensive player in the history of IPL. He could only manage to score 35 runs in 19 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes. Both Sunil Narine and Shardul Thakur showed some intent until the Rain interrupted. At that time, KKR was still 7 runs behind the Par Score as per the DLS method.
The officials waited for some time, but eventually, it was a good day for Punjab Kings. They started their campaign with a victory over King Khan’s KKR.
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