Punjab Kings (PBKS) continued their impressive run in the ongoing season of the IPL, only to have rain derail their plans at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday, April 26. The uncapped opening pair of the Kings nearly belted the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) out of the game with a 120-run partnership off just 71 deliveries as both Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh slammed half-centuries. The duo was severe on KKR spinners as they just kept going after them and despite a mini collapse in the middle, the Punjab Kings managed to get to a score of 201.
This was the Mohali-based franchise's 28th 200-plus score in the IPL, the third most in the tournament, just after Chennai Super Kings (33) and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (32). The Kings surpassed the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Mumbai Indians, who both have gone past the 200-mark on 27 occasions in the IPL.
Teams with scores of 200 or more most times in IPL
CSK - 33
RCB - 32
PBKS - 28*
KKR - 27
MI - 27
The Kings were cruising at 158/1 after 14 overs and looked good to get a score in excess of 220, given the batting depth and the firepower they have in the middle and lower-middle order. However, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana and Andre Russell combined at the death to restrict KKR to 201, giving away just 43 runs in the last six overs, while picking up three more wickets.
The visitors, though, would have taken 201 on that wicket, which wasn't as flat as the openers made it out to be, especially given how underconfident the KKR batting line-up has been in the last few matches, being unable to chase down 112 and 199 in the previous couple of games. The rain, however, had other ideas as it arrived just after the first over of the KKR innings was bowled and relented to deny any further possibility of play.
Both teams shared the spoils. The Kings moved up to No 4 on the points table as a result, but would rue the missed chance of taking home the available two points.
