Twitter Reactions: Shahrukh Khan takes Preity Zinta's PBKS home against Shah Rukh Khan's KKR

It went to the last over but this time, for once, Punjab Kings held their nerve.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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2 Min Read

KL Rahul
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KL Rahul. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Wow! Punjab Kings are making it a habit to take the game to the last over and give it a twist at the last moment. And when it is SRK vs Preity, things are meant to go down the wire it seems. When Aiden Markram and KL Rahul were batting, the game had no business to go into the final over but as it is with the Kings, they almost gave it away yet again in the last over. But Shahrukh Khan and Rahul were a tad lucky in the last moments while they also played good shots in the last few overs to keep Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at bay and stay alive in IPL 2021 eventually.

Earlier, Venkatesh Iyer was the man yet again for KKR with the bat and what a matured knock it was from him! Despite losing Shubman Gill early, who got a ripping delivery from Arshdeep Singh in the second over of the innings, Iyer played his shots, not so risky, to stitch a partnership with Rahul Tripathi. KKR’s number three was impressive yet again with shot selection but Ravi Bishnoi cut short his 34-run stay in the middle in the 12th over.

Venkatesh had got his eyes by then and also reached his half-century. Not often do we get to see a batsman continue to play non-risky shots even after get to his fifty. But Iyer has a matured head on his shoulders as he made sure the run-rate didn’t dip after Tripathi’s wicket fell. He continued his knock to smash 67 runs off 49 balls and was only dismissed in the 15th over by Bishnoi.

KKR were 120/3 then and had a chance to launch themselves in the death overs with wickets in hand. However, Punjab Kings bowlers came back well at the fag end of the innings. Mohammed Shami got the better of the struggling Eoin Morgan. Nitish Rana threatened to take the game away with smashing a four and a six off Arshdeep but got out in the same over to hand over the momentum of the innings.

Even with Dinesh Karthik in the middle, KKR couldn’t up the ante in the last 14 balls mustering only 16 runs. They ended at 165 runs, the score which looked like crossing 180 at one stage when Iyer and then Rana were batting.

KL Rahul leads Punjab’s chase

PBKS should’ve gotten off to the worst possible start to their chase. But Eoin Morgan dropped Mayank Agarwal off the first ball he faced and that hurt KKR badly. Agarwal went on to score 40 runs and was magnificent in his shot making. The opening stand of 69 runs was broken by Varun Chakravarthy but Agarwal and KL Rahul had given the team the required start.

While Agarwal took the aggressive approach, Rahul was quite at the other end taking the back seat. He did the same even in the middle overs with Nicholas Pooran (12) and Aiden Markram (18) playing their shots. However, the PBKS skipper made sure to punish the bad balls and also brought up his half-century with a thumping six off Tim Southee.

Just when things started getting comfortable for Punjab, Markram’s wicket in the 16th over made things interesting The equation came down to 35 runs off last four overs and Rahul had Deepak Hooda in the middle to support him. Shivam Mavi had two overs left to bowl while Tim Southee was left with one and Morgan had to play the gamble with an over of the fifth bowler, Iyer.

Mavi scalped Deepak Hooda in the 17th over but Shahrukh Khan made sure he churned out the required runs in the over to make it 24 off the last three overs. A decent 18th over followed to make 15 off the final two overs. Rahul got the crucial boundary off the very first ball but he mishit one only for Rahul Tripathi to claim a fantastic low catch. This is when the drama began.

The third umpire took a lot of time at the replays and with not enough evidence and the zoomer showing ball touching the ground led to him going in favour of the batsman. Then followed a four to make it five off the last over. However, there was one more twist left and KL Rahul got holed out at long off to bring the equation down to four off as many deliveries.

Shahrukh Khan was on strike for the third ball and a ferocious pull had him almost caught at deep mid-wicket. But Rahul Tripathi who came running to pluck the catch but his momentum took him over the boundary and he can’t keep control of the ball with it going over the ropes. Punjab Kings stayed alive, but just!

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

 

 

 

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