‘Punjab team listened to chak de India’ – Fans react after Punjab beat Kolkata in rain-interrupted encounter in Indian T20 League
Punjab Franchise (Source – Twitter)
The second encounter of the Indian T20 League 2023 belonged to the Punjab franchise as they defeated the Kolkata franchise by 7 runs in a rain-interrupted match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali.
Kolkata skipper Nitish Rana won the toss and asked Punjab to bat first. Punjab posted a total of 190 runs for the loss of 5 wickets, powered by the knocks by the skipper Shikhar Dhawan and Bhanuka Rajapaksa as the duo put up a partnership of 86 runs for the second wicket.
Dhawan got out after scoring 40 runs off 29 balls hitting six boundaries, while Rajapaksa scored a fine fifty as he got out on 50 runs off 32 balls including five fours and two sixes. After that, it was Sam Curran (26 off 17) and Shahrukh Khan (11 off 7) who added the finishing touches to Punjab’s innings. Tim Southee scalped 2 wickets for Kolkata, while Umesh Yadav, Sunil Narine, and Varun Chakravarthy shared a wicket each.
Kolkata didn’t have a great start while chasing a big total as they lost 3 wickets for 29 runs inside five overs. After that, Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer tried to take the innings further by adding 46 runs for the fourth wicket. Rana got out after scoring 24 runs off 17 balls. Rinku Singh also couldn’t contribute more as he gave his catch to Sikandar Raza on 4 runs while trying to take on Rahul Chahar.
Rain spoiled Kolkata’s plans
After that Iyer put up a partnership of 50 runs with Andre Russell, who got out after scoring 35 runs off 19 balls hitting three fours and two sixes. Iyer also lost his wicket a few balls later, scoring 34 from 28 balls including three fours and a maximum.
Kolkata were at 146 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 16 overs before the rain tried to play a spoilsport. The game was expected to continue as soon as the rain stopped but it didn’t happened and Punjab won the match by 7 runs as per the DLS method. For Punjab, Arshdeep Singh took 3 wickets by conceding 19 runs in three overs, while Sikandar Raza, Rahul Chahar, Sam Curran and Nathan Ellis took 1 wicket each.
Here’s how fans reacted following the game:
https://twitter.com/IamShaktiMann/status/1642171336184434694
https://twitter.com/Pant_life/status/1642171436294094849
— TROLL PAKISTAN CRICKET (@TrollPakistanii) April 1, 2023
— Him2Cricket (@Him2Cricket) April 1, 2023
KKR lost by 7 runs due to rain
PBKS to KKR : pic.twitter.com/4kDc8E9cX6
— ً (@SarcasticCowboy) April 1, 2023
https://twitter.com/criclover451807/status/1642162398101647360
