In the absence of the season’s leading run-scorer and captain Shikhar Dhawan, Punjab pulled off an incredible win. KL Rahul and co. in their den, and snapped their two-game winning run.
Chasing a competitive 160, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals but Zimbabwe’s Sikandar played a calculated 41-ball 57 to keep his team alive in the entire chase.
Although Sikandar fell in the 18th over, it gave Lucknow a chance to steal the win, but a dashing Shah Rukh smashed 23 off 10 balls to snatch the game from the home side and Punjab crossed the finish line with 3 balls to spare.
as it happened
Invited to bat, skipper KL Rahul hit his first half-century of the season but Punjab Kings took timely wickets to restrict the Lucknow side to 159 for eight.
In the chase, Raza, who also picked up a wicket with his spin bowling, played a responsible knock after Matthew Short’s 22-ball 34. Raza hit four fours and three sixes in his match-winning innings.
On a two-pace wicket, KL Rahul played a brilliant knock of 74 off 56 balls as he added 53 and 48 runs for the first and third wickets respectively with Kyle Mayers (29) and Krunal Pandya (18).
However, LSG could not end things on a high note as they lost four wickets for 48 runs in the last five overs. Sam Curran pick three of them.
Kagiso Rabada (2/34), Arshdeep Singh (1/22), Harpreet Brar (1/10) and Sikandar Raza (1/19) were also among wickets.
Defending the total, pacer Yudhvir Singh made a sensational debut, dismissing fellow debutants Atharva Tayde (0) and Prabhasimran Singh (4) in his first two overs to reduce PBKS to 17 for 2 , who replaced Rahul Chahar as the Impact sub.
Matthew Short looked in fine touch, hitting three fours off Avesh Khan, before hitting two fours off Yudhveer.
Krishnappa Gowtham, who replaced Kyle Mayers as the impact sub, was also hit for a six by Short but the spinner had the batsman caught by Stoinis as Punjab were dismissed for 45 for 3 in 6 overs.
Raza then took the responsibility upon himself as he and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (22) added 30 runs before Pandya broke the stand, dismissing the former at deep backward square.
Raza scored 17 runs in the 13th over by hitting Pandya for two consecutive sixes and a four.
However, KL Rahul pulled off a sensational effort to get rid of Jitesh Sharma while Ravi Bishnoi, introduced after 14 overs, dismissed Curran (6) to give Raza hope of a reversal.
With 21 needed from 13 balls, Shah Rukh dispatched Woods for a maximum, while Brar also hit a boundary to reduce the required runs.
Earlier, Rahul and Meares got the LSG off to a brisk start, with the flamboyant left-arm West Indian being the aggressor at the outset.
While Rahul dealt in boundaries, Mayer dealt in maximums.
Meares blasted Matthew Short over deep backward square leg and followed it up with a backward punch to cover Sam Curran for another six overs before Rabada was deposited in the stands to take LSG to 40 for no loss in the powerplay Delivered on
With the pitch offering little grip and turn, Curran, who led the PBKS in place of the injured Shikhar Dhawan, brought in the spinners.
Harpreet Brar soon removed Meares, who was dismissed at deep backward square leg in the eighth over, while Raza trapped Deepak Hooda (2) as LSG were dismissed for 62 for 2.
Rahul then combined with Pandya to take the LSG past 100, before Rabada returned in the 15th over to dismiss Pandya.
Two balls later, Nicholas Pooran, the star of the last match, also fell in search of a big hit and was caught by Shah Rukh Khan.
Marcus Stoinis, however, kept going from the start, smashing Rahul Chahar for back-to-back sixes while KL Rahul cut Rabada for a maximum as LSG reached 138 for 4 in 17 overs .
However, the hosts didn’t get the final push as Curran got the wicket of Stoinis after winning a video referral after a faint nick off the batsman’s gloves.
Arshdeep Singh then dismissed Rahul with his finger ball, who was out at long-on, while Shah Rukh Khan once again took a well-timed catch to get rid of Yudhvir Singh.
(With inputs from PTI)