'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAMDAwMDAwQEBAQFBQUFBQcHBgYHBwsICQgJCAsRCwwLCwwLEQ8SDw4PEg8bFRMTFRsfGhkaHyYiIiYwLTA+PlQBAwMDAwMDBAQEBAUFBQUFBwcGBgcHCwgJCAkICxELDAsLDAsRDxIPDg8SDxsVExMVGx8aGRofJiIiJjAtMD4+VP/AABEIAAUACgMBIgACEQEDEQH/xABhAAEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABgcQAAICAgIDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAECAwQABQYxESJBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEBREAAgAGAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIAAwQREjFRUtH/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AJDg2/5JzixtNXf3F1q1PVPcWOWeSZC8cqKPVmA6Y5tVTRTLUgBvuSIkB8RRgdfAQcYyrT0slthtd29g6VM1EaWMcQwIBRTY25Ij/9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Punjab Kings faced the Kolkata Knight Riders in match no. 2 of IPL 2023 at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Saturday, April 1. PBKS won the closely contested clash by seven runs via the DLS method.
Kolkata Knight Riders' new skipper Nitish Rana won the toss and decided to field first. Punjab Kings got off to a flier thanks to Prabhsimran Singh's boundaries. After Singh's dismissal, Bhanuka Rajapaksa arrived in the middle and scored a quickfire half-century.
Cameos from Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma, M Shahrukh Khan and Sikandar Raza helped PBKS reach 191/5 in their 20 overs. Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 1/26 in four overs.
In reply, the Kolkata Knight Riders reached 146/7 in 16 overs, riding on thirties from Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer. Rain forced the officials to stop the game after the 16th over ended. The DLS par score was 153, meaning KKR lost the game by seven runs.
IPL returned to the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali after four years. There were quite a few interesting moments during the match. Here's a list of the top three moments that generated a buzz among the fans.
#1 Bhanuka Rajapaksa destroyed Sunil Narine in his first match of IPL 2023
It is rare to see any batter hit consecutive boundaries off Sunil Narine's bowling. The Caribbean spinner has made a name for himself with his economical bowling performances across the T20 leagues of the world.
However, Bhanuka Rajapaksa attacked Sunil Narine relentlessly and hit him for two fours and a six in the same over. Narine came on to bowl the fifth over of Punjab's innings. Rajapaksa played a couple of dots before hitting two fours off the next two balls.
Narine bowled one more dot before Rajapaksa ended the over with a maximum. Rajapaksa's big hitting generated a lot of buzz on social media.
#2 Floodlight failure in IPL 2023's second match
Due to overcast conditions, floodlights were needed during the second innings of the Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders match. However, officials had to halt the game for a while because of a floodlight failure.
The break between the two innings had to be extended to ensure that all the floodlights functioned properly. The match resumed after a brief break, but fans on social media were unhappy with the floodlight failure.
#3 Shardul Thakur's 1st-ball 6 against Sam Curran
Although Shardul Thakur did not have a memorable KKR debut with the ball in IPL 2023, the all-rounder made up for it with a fantastic six off the first ball he faced in the Kolkata Knight Riders jersey.
Sam Curran, the most expensive player in IPL history, bowled a back of a length delivery on leg stump. Thakur stood on his toes and punched it off the backfoot for a six over the midwicket boundary. The clean hit from Thakur wowed fans on social media.
