Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) took on Sam Curran-led Punjab Kings (PBKS) in match 42 of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Friday, April 26 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata .
The two-time IPL champions entered the clash with a superior head-to-head record against the Punjab Kings. Out of 32 matches played between the teams, the Knight Riders emerged victorious in 21 games and the Kings won 11. At Eden Gardens, things were no different as Kolkata Knight Riders won 9 of the 12 games played between the teams.
Meanwhile, Punjab Kings invited Kolkata Knight Riders to bat first in the match and the opening duo of Sunil Narine and Phil Salt demolished the PBKS bowling attack. After Phil Salt (75) and Sunil Narine (71) got out, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell and Shreyas Iyer helped KKR post the highest ever score at Eden Gardens – 261/6.
Chasing the target, Prabhsimran Singh and Jonny Bairstow gave PBKS an exceptional start playing an attacking brand of cricket. Prabhsimran got out after scoring a fifty but Jonny Bairstow hit a brutal ton. In the end, Shashank Singh joined hands with Jonny Bairstow and together they powered PBKS to an 8-wicket victory.
It was tremendous to see the way the batsmen batted, Sunny coming in – Shreyas Iyer
At the post-match presentation ceremony, Shreyas Iyer said that his batsmen did a great job in the match. Shreyas Iyer said:
“It would have (taken 260 at the start of the day). It was tremendous to see the way the batsmen batted, Sunny coming in… the way Salt batted, they delivered and it was a treat for the eyes.”
Shreyas Iyer added that they need to go back to the drawing board and come up with better ideas after a big failure with the ball. Shreyas Iyer signed off by praising Sunil Narine for his heroism. Shreyas Iyer explained:
“Both teams played tremendously, one of those games where you go back to the drawing board and see where it went wrong, especially not being able to defend 260. We have to summarize the conditions and come up with better ideas. It’s brilliant to see him (Narine) come out and hitting the ball, I hope he continues those performances.
Ahead of their IPL 2024 encounter, the last time these two teams met, a thriller was witnessed in Kolkata in which the home team won in the last ball by 5 wickets on May 8. Bowling first, KKR restricted Punjab Kings to 179/7 in 20 overs as Varun Chakravarthy picked a three-wicket haul and Harshit Rana, Nitish Rana and Suyash Sharma shared four wickets between them.
Chasing the target, Jason Roy and Nitish Rana played very good innings from the top order to lay the foundation for a successful chase which was eventually capitalized by Andre Russell and Rinku Singh who finished off the match.