Shreyas Iyer, captain of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), hit some massive sixes off Sam Curran’s bowling. He was in great form. Shreyas Iyer smashed three huge sixes in the 17th over. This helped KKR get close to reaching 250 runs at Eden Gardens.
While the first two deliveries of the over resulted in singles, the next four balls caused havoc. Shreyas Iyer smacked a short ball from the left-arm seamer over square leg before smashing one past cover for a boundary. The other two balls also went for maximums. The over yielded 24 runs, with Curran’s stats reading 4-0-60-1.
Phil Salt and Sunil Narine were once again at their combative best, stitching up a 138-run opening stand. The Punjab Kings were careless on the field, giving Salt and Narine life and allowing them to break boundaries at will. PBKS took their first wicket in the eleventh over, when Narine holed out to long-on for 71 off Rahul Chahar’s bowling.
KKR hammer their 2nd highest IPL total
The 138-run partnership put KKR up for a large total, as they went on to score 261-6 in the allotted 20 overs. Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer added a fast 43 toward the finish after Curran castled Salt for 75 and Arshdeep Singh defeated Andre Russell.
Arshdeep Singh returned as PBKS’ best bowler, with statistics of 4-0-45-2, while Chahar also bowled effectively, with 4-0-33-1.
Curran won the toss and chose to field first. Jonny Bairstow was recruited by the Punjab Kings in place of Liam Livingstone, and Mitchell Starc’s finger injury made way for Dushamantha Chameera. Chameera also made his debut with the Knight Riders.
