KKR vs PBKS: Ravichandran Ashwin takes a dig at Kevin Pietersen's "normal size boundaries" remark after world record chase in Kolkata

Ravichandran Ashwin took a brutal dig at the former England National Cricket Team star batsman Kevin Pietersen after a world record chase was completed at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 26 during the game between Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders.

Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to field first in the match. They made one change to the playing XI by bringing in Jonny Bairstow for Liam Livingstone. KKR also made one change by replacing injured Mitchell Starc with Dushmantha Chameera.

Batting first, Kolkata Knight Riders openers Phil Salt and Sunil Narine demolished the Punjab Kings bowling attack. They played attacking cricket throughout their stay in the middle. After Phil Salt (75) and Sunil Narine (71) got out, Venkatesh Iyer, Andre Russell, and Shreyas Iyer came and blasted quick runs to lead KKR to the highest-ever score at Eden Gardens - 261/6. 

Chasing the target, Jonny Bairstow and Prabhsimran Singh laid the platform for a win by playing an attacking brand of cricket. The duo took the bowlers to the cleaners and made sure that kept PBKS in the match. Prabhsimran got out after scoring 54, but Jonny Bairstow remained unbeaten till the end. The England batter slammed a brutal 108 runs and Shashank Singh smashed a sensational 68 runs as PBKS pulled off the biggest run-chase in the history of T20 cricket with 8 wickets in hand and 8 balls remaining.

Speaking during the match on-air, Kevin Pietersen said that the boundaries at Eden Gardens are of normal size and Ravichandran Ashwin took to X to react to his statement with laughing emojis. 

"The commentator just said these are normal size boundaries at the Eden gardens," Ravichandran Ashwin pointed out Kevin Pietersen's on-air comments and posted on his official X handle.

The commentator just said these are normal size boundaries at the Eden gardens😂😂😂 . #KKRvsPBKS

— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) April 26, 2024

Before the historic chase pulled off by PBKS, the record for the highest successful chase in IPL was with Rajasthan Royals in IPL and South Africa in T20 cricket.

Highest targets successfully chased in the IPL

262 - PBKS vs KKR, Kolkata, 2024

224 - RR vs PBKS, Sharjah, 2020

224 - RR vs KKR, Kolkata, 2024

219 - MI vs CSK, Delhi, 2021

Highest targets successfully chased in Men’s T20 cricket

262 - Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Kolkata, IPL 2024

259 - South Africa vs West Indies, Centurion, 2023

253 - Middlesex vs Surrey, The Oval, T20 Blast 2023

244 - Australia vs New Zealand, Auckland, 2018

243 - Bulgaria vs Serbia, Sofia, 2022

He has given me complete freedom - Shashank Singh on PBKS coach

Speaking after the match, one of the heroes of Punjab Kings in the dull IPL 2024 campaign - Shashank Singh - said that he knew that the ball was coming good on the bat and he was ready to take down the bowlers. He said:

"When I was in the dug-out, I was just watching the behaviour of the pitch, felt it was coming on nicely with good bounce. Just backed myself to hit the other bowlers, was happy to take the singles and doubles off Narine, we wanted to play him out. 

Shashank Singh revealed that the PBKS coach Trevor Bayliss has given him full freedom to play his natural game. Shashank Singh also lauded Jonny Bairstow and said that they can still qualify for the playoffs.

"He has given me complete freedom (on coach Trevor Bayliss), has told me to play the way I can. A big positive when Jonny (Bairstow) supports you (from the other end), he has played 100 Test matches and to see him clap for you, you'll feel happy and vindicated. We still have 5 matches to go, we'll take it one match at a time and I believe that we can still qualify to the playoffs."