KKR vs PBKS: "Cricket is turning into baseball" - Sam Curran after Punjab Kings chase down 262

Under the leadership of stand-in captain Sam Curran, Punjab Kings took on the Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 42nd match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Friday, April 26, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Opting to bowl first in the match, Punjab Kings bowlers were made look clueless by the KKR openers Phil Salt and Sunil Narine. Salt and Narine smashed 75 and 71 runs respectively while Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, and Andre Russell made significant contributions to help KKR post 261 for 6 on the board. For PBKS, Arshdeep Singh picked two wickets while Sam Curran, Harshal Patel, and Rahul Chahar got one wicket each.

Chasing the target, Jonny Bairstow and Prabhsimran Singh destroyed the KKR bowling unit. Singh failed to play a big knock, but Jonny Bairstow converted his fifty into a triple-figure score and along with Shashank Singh steered PBKS to an 8-wicket win. This was the highest-ever chase in the history of T20 cricket.

Speaking after the match, Sam Curran expressed his delight over the win and said that cricket is turning into baseball. Sam Curran said:

"Very pleasing. Most importantly the win. Cricket is turning into baseball. We have had a few tough weeks. But we hung in there. The way guys train. The confidence and the coaches. The small grounds and the dew. The reviews which might give you an extra ball."

Sam Curran further lauded Jonny Bairstow for his stellar knock and labeled Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma as the find of the tournament. Sam Curran stated:

"We hung in there and managed to chase it down with balls to spare. Pleased for Johnny. What an amazing knock. Shashank Singh has been the find of the tournament for us. Ashutosh as well. Proud of everyone."

Previous 5 Meetings Between KKR And PBKS 

In the previous 5 meetings between the teams, Kolkata Knight Riders won three and Punjab Kings won two matches. On May 8, 2023, KKR restricted PBKS to 179/7 and then chased down the target to win the match by 5 wickets.

Before that, in the same season on April 1, Kolkata Knight Riders posted 191/5 on the board and stopped KKR to 146/7 to win by 7 runs because the target was reduced to 154 as per the DLS method.

In the Indian Premier League 2022, KKR and PBKS faced off each other only once on April 1 in Wankhede where KKR hammered their opponents by 6 wickets with 33 balls to spare while chasing down 138 runs. Talking further about the rivalry, Punjab Kings defeated the Knight Riders on October 1 in Dubai by 5 wickets when they successfully completed the run-chase of 166 and in the same season KKR registered a 5-wicket win over the Punjab-based franchise on April 26 in Ahmedabad when they comprehensively chased down the small target of 123/9.