Since 2024, the Indian Premier League has faced a shift in the batting approach of teams. From a rather conventional approach of saving wickets at the start of the innings and blasting off in the slog overs, the majority of the teams shifted to ultra-aggressive batting, which produced outrageous totals that made the 180s, 190s look like a cake-walk.

The contest between the Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders from the 2025 season broke every accord of the “new normal”, reminding the audience there is still scope for edge-of-the-seat low-scoring encounters.

Punjab and Kolkata have had their fair share of rivalry dating to the final of the 2014 season, where Piyush Chawla hit the winning runs for Kolkata, ending Punjab’s dream run to the final. Last season, Punjab climbed a mountain, breaking the tournament record by chasing down a daunting target of 262. Unbeknownst to Kings, there was another thriller in their next meeting with the Knight Riders.

The match started like any other, where Punjab opted to bat in its new home in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh. Within three overs, PBKS raced to 39 with its openers providing an attacking start. Again, nothing out of the ordinary. Then came the fourth over of Harshit Rana. First, Priyansh Arya found the fielder, falling for 22. Harshit, however, was not done yet. Shreyas Iyer, who was looking to pounce on a stray ball, found the man at deep backward square.

Punjab could never get back into the innings, losing wickets at regular intervals. KKR’s bowling lynchpins Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy finished with the figures of 2/14 and 2/21, respectively. Somehow, Punjab huffed and puffed to 111.

The chase began with KKR losing both Sunil Narine and Quinton De Kock in the same over, giving PBKS a ray of hope. That ray of hope, however, started to fade as Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi consolidated. In no time, KKR reached 62, well on track to haul down the target.

In walked the wily leggie Yuzvendra Chahal. Just when the wicket seemed to be behaving better compared to the first innings, Chahal started to spin a web around the KKR batting. He removed both Rahane and Raghuvanshi in quick succession as KKR inadvertently pressed the panic button. By the time Chahal ended his dream spell with the figures 4/28, he left KKR tottering with the scoreboard reading 95/8.

The collapse could be credited to the KKR batters being in two minds whether to save wickets or try to score the remaining runs quickly. When Marco Jansen finished the formalities, sending Andre Russell back, the night was done. The Kings managed to restrict KKR to 95, breaking the record for the lowest total ever defended in the 18-year-long history of the IPL.

The result sent shockwaves across the entire cricketing community. At a time when the 250s and 260s were termed as the par score, this match proved that there is still space for low-scoring thrillers, just when the impact of bowlers seemed to be fading off the game.

Published on Apr 05, 2026