IPL 2023: Sikandar Raza, Shahrukh Khan star in Punjab Kings’s away win against KL Rahul’s LSG

Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza’s half-century and some late boundaries from Shahrukh Khan led Punjab Kings to a two-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL on Saturday.

Raza made 57 in Punjab’s chase of 160 before departing in the 18th over, but Shahrukh hit an unbeaten 23 off 10 balls to steer the team home with three balls to spare in Lucknow.

Raza became the first Zimbabwean to score a half century in the IPL, and also became the first from the country to win the player of the match award in the league.

Raza started slowly but soon found his groove as he smashed four fours and three sixes in his 41-ball knock before falling to Ravi Bishnoi’s leg-spin on a tough pitch.

Shahrukh top-edged a six off Mark Wood in the penultimate over and hit the winning boundary off Bishnoi as Punjab moved fourth in the 10-team table.

Sam Curran set up Punjab’s win with bowling figures of 3-31 as he stood in as captain following an injury to regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan.

Curran and South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada shared five wickets between them to limit Lucknow to 159-8.

Lucknow skipper KL Rahul made 74 – his first half-century of the season – and took a stunning diving catch wide of mid-off but his efforts failed to inspire the Super Giants, who slipped to their second loss in five matches.

Punjab initially stuttered in their chase after losing their openers to debutant pace bowler Yudhvir Singh and then Australian Matthew Short for 34.

But Raza kept calm to keep the Kings in the hunt despite losing regular wickets including Curran for six.