IPL 2024's love affair with the bat continued on Friday, night, with another high-scoring encounter raising concerns about the plight of bowlers. This comes amidst former skipper Sourav Ganguly's call for the BCCI to find a balance between bat and ball.
Flat pitches and the 'Impact Player' rule, allowing an extra batter, have tilted the scales heavily in favour of batters.
This was evident at the Eden Gardens, where a record-breaking 523 runs were scored, a staggering 250 coming in boundaries alone.
While the Punjab Kings secured a dominant win, chasing down a mammoth 262 with eight wickets to spare, the match exposed the struggle for bowlers. Even a commendable spell from Sunil Narine couldn't contain the onslaught.
A look at the best spells:
Rahul Chahar
A mammoth score of 261 for 6 is undeniably imposing, and it could have been even more daunting if not for Rahul Chahar's timely intervention. His four over spell, yielding figures of 1-33, provided a crucial respite for the opposition. However, Punjab's fielding left much to be desired, particularly in the early stages of the innings, as they squandered three catching opportunities within the first seven overs.
The opening partnership finally came to an end for KKR when Chahar induced a mishit from Sunil Narine, resulting in a catch for Jonny Bairstow at long on.
Chahar continued to apply pressure with a tight over, and he was unlucky not to claim another wicket when a chance went begging off the bat of Phil Salt, with Kagiso Rabada spurning the opportunity.
Sunil Narine
Despite Narine's commendable spell of 4-0-24-1, KKR found themselves unable to halt Punjab's relentless charge towards a record-breaking target.
Despite Narine's economical bowling, conceding just 12 runs in his three overs, Kolkata's bowling unit faltered in containing Punjab's onslaught during the crucial middle overs.
Although Narine managed to dismiss Rilee Rossouw, providing a brief respite for Kolkata, the momentum shifted dramatically with Shashank Singh's arrival. His impactful innings proved to be the turning point of the match, as Punjab surged towards victory.
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