Chahal makes storied return as Punjab defend lowest total in IPL against KKR

Yuzvendra Chahal made a storied return to his best as Punjab Kings edged Kolkata Knight Riders by 16 runs in a low-scoring thriller in the IPL at Mullanpur on Tuesday.

It was a rare victory for bowlers as all 20 wickets fell on the day. Leg spinner Chahal, who had been scarcely used this season, gave a good account of his relevance with 4/28 as Punjab successfully defended their modest total of 111. It was the lowest total defended in IPL history.

When Marco Jansen clean-bowled Andre Russell (17) in the first ball of the 16th over, it was the end of the KKR innings for 95. The impact sub, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (37), was the only KKR batter who managed to score over 20 runs.

The script was no different in the Punjab innings after their skipper, Shreyas Iyer, won the toss. Things went smoothly for the first three overs in the Punjab innings, with Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh making 39 off 3.1 overs. But the fall of Arya, caught at fine leg while trying to clip Harshit Rana for a six, started a collapse from which Punjab hardly recovered and posted a modest 111.

Pacer Rana (3/25) inflicted the most damage; after dismissing Arya (22), he removed Punjab skipper Shreyas Iyer (0) and then took out Prabhsimran (30), all caught in the deep by Ramandeep Singh.

Spinner Varun Chakravarthy (2/21) and Sunil Narine (2/14) did the rest as Shreyas Iyer's bold decision to bat first backfired within an hour. On his debut for Punjab, Josh Inglis was castled by Chakravarthy while trying to go big with a slog sweep. Glenn Maxwell, too, had no idea how to handle Chakravarthy's wrong 'un. Punjab were forced to play their impact sub card on a batter, Suryansh Shedge (4), but he edged behind off Narine.

Brief scores: Punjab Kings 111 in 15.3 overs (Prabhsimran 30, Priyansh Arya 22, Harshit Rana 3/25, Sunil Narine 2/14, Varun Chakravarthy 2/21) bt KKR 95 in 15.1 overs (Angkrish Raghuvanshi 37, Yuzvendra Chahal 4/28, Marco Jansen 3/17)