It was absolute scenes at Mullanpur on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, night as Punjab Kings defended a meagre 111 as Kolkata Knight Riders folded like a pack of cards, all out for 95, in a low-scoring thriller.
Ecstacy was the presiding emotion in the Punjab camp after the 16 run win. And to think that Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings failed to defend 245 against Sunrisers Hyderabad just three nights ago.
Tuesday's was an unlikely win triggered by a four wicket haul by Yuzvendra Chahal.
Chahal was a pale shadow of himself before this match, picking just two wickets in five outings this season.
But the leggie proved, to quote the oft use phrase form is temporary, class is permanent, to bowl a match-defining spell.
Along with KKR's Sunil Narine, Chahal has the most four-plus wickets hauls in the tournament -- 8.
A little before the game on Tuesday, Chahal passed a fitness test for a shoulder injury he picked up the last game, Head Coach Ricky Ponting revealed at the post-match presentation.
Chahal told Ponting he was ready to go and boy was he pumped!
KKR got off to a torrid start as they chased 112 for victory.
The visitors lost Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock in the first two overs to fall on the backfoot.
KKR Skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Angrisk Raghuvanshi launched a quick counter-attack, hitting a 55 run stand that came in just 38 balls.
Just when it seemed like KKR were taking the game away from their opponents, Shreyas Iyer pressed Chahal into service to break the stand.
Rahane and Raghuvanshi started the over with two singles. A dot later, Chahal struck.
With 50 needed off 75 balls, Chahal bowled it quick and full and the googly maintained its trajectory to hit Rahane on the back leg. Chahal appealed for an LBW. The umpire raised the finger and Rahane decided against the review as he walked back for 17 off 17. Had he taken the DRS, he would have survived.
But good fortune decided to pitch a tent in Punjab's corner and from there on it was all Chahal and all Punjab.
Shreyas said at the post-match presentation that the wicket had variable bounce and enough turn to trouble the opposition.
Chahal used it to his advantage to script an infamous collapse.
In his next over he had Raghuvanshi prodding at one as the ball turned and flew off his outside edge only to be caught at backward point.
From 72 for 4 in the 10th over to 95 all out, it was capitulation by KKR.
KKR needed to breach the total in 14.1 overs if they had to leapfrog the teams to the top spot.
He then had Rinku Singh stumped off a slower, tossed up ball. Rinku came forward, attempting to reach it, only to be beaten on the turn.
Chahal took out Ramandeep Singh -- attempting a paddle scoop only to be caught -- for a golden duck, to complete a superb four wicket haul.
Chahal brought out his well known guile and smarts on a pitch that made the ball turn like a top. What was different on Tuesday was Chahal had found his rhythm.
He was back bowling slower balls, getting flight, dip and turn to aid his cause.
His dismissal of Rinku was a prime example of him regaining his touch, beating batters with drift and loop.
Bowling at an economy rate of just 7, Chahal had 14 dot balls in his spell of 4 for 28.
Earlier, after Punjab opted to bat, their batters also found problems in reading the wicket and were outfoxed by Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, who took two wickets apiece.
Harshit Rana (3/25) delivered a magical Powerplay spell that triggered PBKS' collapse after Priyansh Arya (22 in 12 balls) and Prabhsimran Singh (30 in 15 balls) delivered an explosive start. Later Varun (2/21) and Narine (2/14) controlled PBKS with their spin.
'When I bowled my first ball, it turned', Chahal said at the post match presentation.
'Then Shreyas said we needed a slip because we couldn't let go of even a single chance, there was no point bringing in a slip after a ball went for four through there. We had to attack, because we had few runs to work with, and we knew that we could win only by picking up wickets.'
'I was varying my pace,. If the opposition's batters wanted to hit sixes, they had to put in effort to do it.'
'My approach is always to aim for a wicket from the very first ball. Against Ajju bhai (Ajinkya Rahane), I mixed up my pace deliberately -- to make it harder for him to go after me.'
Chahal's match-defining spell saw him take home his first Player of the Match for Punjab Kings.
And the leggie's rumoured girlfriend RJ Mahvash posted a story on her Instagram page praising the cricketer.
'What a Talented Man. Highest wicket taker for IPL for a reason. Asambhav', she captioned a picture with Chahal.
Nothing is Asambhav anymore for Chahal who is back in form and PBKS will hope Tuesday's show is only a trailer of what's to come from the bowler down the line in the tournament.
© 2025