Kolkata: One point is better than nothing, so Kolkata Knight Riders shouldn’t feel too disheartened that their slight chance of chasing 201 against Punjab Kings was washed away by the nor’westers at the Eden Gardens on Saturday, in a season marred by disappointing performances from the middle order. Against KKR, Punjab Kings hold the distinctive record of chasing down 261 and defending 111 in consecutive seasons, so no one could have anticipated how the match would have unfolded had rain permitted at least five overs for the game to be finished. The match was called off just prior to 11pm with the rain still not letting up.

Based on the signs leading up to that point, only one team was playing to win, and that wasn’t KKR. Dropping Ramandeep Singh in light of his series of batting failures was reasonable, but introducing pacer Chetan Sakariya after switching Moeen Ali with Rovman Powell effectively indicated that KKR had opted to invest in batting strength at the cost of spin-bowling advantage. It spectacularly backfired. Sakariya gave up 39 runs in three overs, while Harshit Rana allowed 27 in two overs. This prompted KKR to turn to Andre Russell, who broke a critical partnership that was threatening to carry Punjab Kings to 240.

Between openers Priyansh Arya (69 – 35, 8x4, 4x6) and Prabhsmiran Singh (83 – 49b, 6x4, 6x6) PBKS once again got the start they desired, although it wasn’t progressing at the pace that is now their standard. Vaibhav Arora was off target, and Arya struck two boundaries off him in the first over, but Prabhsimran took a moment to get going. Two more fours against Arora later, and Arya was easing into the form he is now feared for. The only distinction was that Arya wasn’t overly forcing the sixes. Instead, he was exploiting the gaps for boundaries. “The wicket is on the slower side,” Arya mentioned at the innings break. “Ricky (Ponting, PBKS head coach) sir advised us to rotate the strike after the powerplay and take it deep. ”

That is precisely what the openers executed. The Powerplay— 56 runs in six overs — was calm compared to how Punjab usually operates. However, the middle overs— Punjab accumulated 105 runs at 11. 67 per over — once again supplied the innings with momentum. It didn’t begin in that manner, though, with Sunil Narine giving up just four runs in his first over, but Varun Chakravarthy was targeted by Arya, who slogged him over deep midwicket for a massive six, establishing the tone for the innings.

Narine continued to apply pressure, but it was during his third over that Punjab Kings truly transformed their innings. First, Arya advanced down the pitch and struck him over long-on for a six. Prabhsimran executed a switch hit flawlessly before emphasizing it by smashing a free hit from Narine over his head for six. Meanwhile, Arya had brought up his fifty — 53 off 27 balls — before launching Narine into the sky and into the stands for another six. The partnership of 100 runs was achieved in 11 overs, and although Arya was dismissed, the run rate remained stable because Prabhsimran had chosen to let loose.

He targeted Chakravarthy this time, striking 4, 6, 4 until Arora finally got him out. Glenn Maxwell entered the fray alongside skipper Shreyas Iyer in the 15th over, and suddenly PBKS had two new batsmen poised to capitalize on a thrilling start in the final five overs.

This marked the point where KKR made a comeback. Narine returned and quietly gave away just six runs. Chakravarthy came back, and Maxwell reverse swept him past backward point, but the retaliation was nothing short of spectacular. A seam-up delivery, bowled flatter and quicker, prompted Maxwell to create space and cut, but it spun back in to clip the top of off-stump. Just seven runs came from that over, and the projected score began to tumble.

The decision to send Marco Jansen ahead of Nehal Wadhera or Shashank Singh likely baffled many. He swung at the ball, missed most of the time, and eventually made contact, only to be caught in the deep. Transitioning from 161/2 in 15 overs to limiting Punjab Kings to 201/4 was arguably the only highlight of KKR’s bowling performance.

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