IPL 2023: Arshdeep, Rajapaksa star as Punjab Kings defeat KKR in rain-curtailed match

In a rain curtailed match, Punjab Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by seven runs (by DLS method) at the PCA stadium in Mohali on Saturday.

Chasing 192, the Nitish Rana-led Knight Riders collapsed in quick succession before Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer, who was drafted in as an impact player, provided some reprieve to their team who were reeling at 80/5.

However, Arshdeep Singh’s match-winning spell where he picked up 3/19 in his three overs, taking the wickets of Mandeep Singh (2), Anukul Roy (4) and Iyer (34) did the trick for Punjab. Even as Iyer and Russell tried to take the game close, Sam Curran sent the latter packing after his 19-ball 35. Eventually, when rain stopped play, KKR had fallen behind on DLS.

Earlier, asked to bat first, Bhanuka Rajapaksa smashed a quickfire 50 to lead Punjab Kings to 191/5 against Kolkata Knight Riders. With aggressive batting from the Sri Lankan and Prabhsimran Singh (23), Punjab dominated the first half of the innings and were poised to pass 200 runs, but Kolkata Knight Riders managed to regain control with consistent wicket-taking.

Rajapaksa and skipper Shikhar Dhawan (40 runs) had stitched together a 86-run partnership for the second wicket. There were contributions from Jitesh Sharma who scored 21 off 11 but it was Sam Curran’s unbeaten 26 that provided a late flourish for the Punjab Kings.

For Kolkata Knight Riders, although Sunil Narine (1/40), Tim Southee (2/54) and Shardul Thakur (0/43) were expensive, Varun Chakravarthy (1/26) and Umesh Yadav (1/27) provided economical returns with the ball.

The win took Punjab to second on the table as their NRR wasn’t better than Gujarat Titans.

Arshdeep was declared player of the match.