Punjab Kings (PBKS) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 16 runs in Match 31 of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) on Tuesday, April 15 at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, Chandigarh. Shreyas Iyer’s men defended the lowest score in the history of IPL to hand Kolkata a soul-crushing defeat.
After opting to bat first, Punjab were bundled out for just 111 in 15.3 overs as Harshit Rana (3/25, 3 overs), Varun Chakravarthy (2/21) and Sunil Narine (2/14) emerged as top wicket-takers for Kolkata. In reply, KKR got all out for 95 in 15.1 overs as Yuzvendra Chahal (4/28) and Marco Jansen (3/17) scripted a miracle in Mullanpur. The game beat the best of Bollywood scripts as the momentum shifted one way to the other with every delivery, giving fans a see-saw of emotions.
Following their incredible victory, PBKS climbed to the fourth spot on the points table with four wins from six matches having eight points to their name. On the other hand, KKR, who had a golden chance to top the table if they chased down the target in 14.1 overs, slipped to sixth spot having six points from seven matches.
KKR got off to a shaky start to their chase as Marco Jansen shattered Sunil Narine’s (5 off 4) stumps in the first over. Two balls later, Xavier Bartlett got Quinton de Kock (2 off 4) holed out to deep square leg, leaving KKR on 7/2 in 1.2 overs. After two quick blows, Kolkata brought in Angkrish Raghuvanshi as Impact Player and he joined captain Ajinkya Rahane at the crease.
The duo sent a sense of calm in their dressing room with their 55-run partnership off 38 balls, with both Raghuvanshi and Rahane playing some gorgeous shots. To make matters worse for Punjab, several lapses in the fielding gifted extra runs to the opposition. With KKR needing just 52 runs to win from 78 balls, captain Shreyas Iyer threw the ball towards Yuzvendra Chahal, who had been in torrid form in the ongoing season.
Chahal managed to break the partnership by getting Ajinkya Rahane lbw (17 off 17). The KKR captain decided to not go for DRS but much to his misfortune, the replays showed that he was hit outside off stump, which would’ve saved him. Rahane’s dismissal was just the lucky break that Chahal needed to remind himself of the powers he possessed, as the wrist spinner brought his A game to the fore and made Kolkata batters kneel in front of him.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi (37 off 28) turned out to be his second scalp, who hit him straight to Xavier Bartlett at point. At the other end, Glenn Maxwell also joined the party and got Venkatesh Iyer(7 off 4) lbw to leave KKR on 74/5 in 10.4 overs. Within no time, panic once again spread in the Kolkata dressing room as Chahal spun a web around their batting, dismissing Rinku Singh (2 off 9) and Ramandeep Singh (0 off 1) in his third over.
Marco Jansen also made tailender Harshit Rana drag one back onto his stumps as KKR slumped from 72/3 to 79/8 in just 23 balls. If that was not enough drama, Andre Russell decided to take on Chahal, smashing him for two sixes and a boundary to bring the required runs to win down to 17 from 33. However, Arshdeep Singh added more twist in the tale by bowling a wicket maiden against Vaibhav Arora, dismissing him for a seven-ball duck.
Marco Jansen hit the final nail in Kolkata’s coffin as he made Russell (17 off 11) drag one back onto his stumps to send the entire crowd into a frenzy. It was jubilation all around in the PBKS camp, as they continued to script history against KKR after chasing the highest ever IPL score in the previous season.
Earlier in the day, Punjab continued with their aggressive template as openers Priyansh Arya (22 off 12) and Prabhsimran Singh (30 off 15) took on KKR bowlers after setting their eye-in for the first few balls. Prabhsimran got his innings going as he took on Vaibhav Arora in his second over, tonking him for two fours and a six.
