IPL 2023 PBKS vs KKR Match 2 Highlights: Rajapaksa, Arshdeep shine in Punjab Kings win

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Punjab Kings defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by seven runs on Duckworth Lewis method after heavy rain stopped the proceedings in their IPL 2023 season opener at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium in Mohali on Saturday (April 1).

After Bhanuka Rajapaksa's quickfire fifty powered PBKS to a challenging total of 191/5, Arshdeep Singh, who made early inroads to put KKR on the backfoot, helped restrict the opposition to 146/7 in 16 overs.

Andre Russell (35 off 19) and Impact Player Venkatesh Iyer (34 off 28) kept KKR in the hunt, but the target was a little steep to achieve in the end and they also fell short of the DLS par score of 153 at the start of the 17th over.

For PBKS, Arshdeep was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 19 in 3 overs, while Nathan Ellis, Sam Curran, Rahul Chahar and debutant Sikandar Raza claimed a wicke each.

Rajapaksa and Dhawan lay paltform

Rajapaksa, who scored 50 off 32 balls, shared an 86 run stand for the second wicket with captain Shikhar Dhawan (40 off 29 balls) to lay a strong platform for the likes of Jitesh Sharma and Sam Curran (26 not out off ) to take PBKS to a huge total.

Punjab Kings dominated the first half of the innings with aggressive batting and looked primed to cross 200, but Kolkata Knight Riders managed to pull things back with regular wickets.

Varun Chakravarthy (1 for 26 in 4 overs) and Umesh Yadav (1 for 27 in 4 overs) were the only two bowlers to conceded under 7 runs per over as the remaining bowlers were very costly.

Floodlights malfunction delays play

KKR's chase was delayed by almost half an hour due to floodlight malfunction. The PCA-IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali has a total of six floodlights at a comparatively lower height.

Floodlight malfunction is common at Indian stadiums and on the day, once KKR came out to bat, a lot of bulbs in multiple towers didn't turn on and it became a frustrating wait for the players, who then went inside the dressing room.

Russell, Iyer and Thakur kept KKR chase alive

Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer shared a 50-run stand off 28 balls to keep KKR alive in the run chase. However, the dismissal of dangerous Russell in the 15th over by Curran (1/38) and Arshdeep removing Iyer in the very next over tilted the par score for Punjab Kings.