IPL 2023: Shah Rukh Khan leads Punjab Kings to victory over Lucknow Super Giants

Lucknow, 16th April 2023: In a nail-biting last over, Punjab Kings (PBKS) defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by two wickets in the 22nd match of the season held at Lucknow’s home-ground, Ekana Stadium. Asked to bat, the Lucknow Super Giants recorded a score of 159 for eight wickets, with captain KL Rahul leading the way with 74 runs off 56 balls. With three balls remaining, Punjab Kings successfully surpassed the target.

Punjab Kings got off to a poor start in their pursuit of Lucknow Super Giants’ modest challenge of 159 runs. On the third ball of the first over, Atharva Taide was dismissed by Yaduveer Singh. Yaduveer then dismissed Prabhasimran Singh for four runs to take Punjab to 17 runs for two wickets.

After this, Matthew Short scored an aggressive 34 off 22 balls, but K Gowtham cleared his hurdle and gave Punjab their third blow. Harpreet Singh Bhatia was dismissed by Krunal Pandya for 22 runs, and another set-up Punjab batsman retreated. Meanwhile, skipper Sam Curran was also dismissed for six by Ravi Bishnoi.

The match was 32 runs off 24 balls. At that time, nine runs were scored in the 17th over bowled by Avesh Khan. Sikandar Raza was then dismissed for 57 in the 18th over bowled by Ravi Bishnoi.

Sikandar Raza was scoring runs from one side when Punjab was on the decline. But Jitesh Sharma, who came to support him, went back to the pavilion after scoring two runs. Now Shah Rukh Khan came to the crease to support Sikandar, who completed his half-century.

Now the match was tied at 20 runs in 12 balls. All the hopes of Punjab were on Shah Rukh Khan. Mark Wood took the responsibility of bowling the 19th over for Lucknow. But Shah Rukh Khan hit Mark Wood’s second ball for a six. Harpreet Brar hit Mark Wood’s fourth ball for a boundary to bring the match to seven runs in eight balls. But Brar was dismissed on the fifth ball.

Now seven runs were needed for victory in six balls, and Shah Rukh Khan was on strike. He scored two runs off Bishnoi’s first ball. After that, he scored two runs on the second ball as well and brought the match to three runs in four balls. Shah Rukh hit a boundary on the fourth ball to finally seal Punjab’s victory.

Earlier, Punjab Kings, who entered the field with the intention of a hat-trick of victories at their home ground, restricted the Lucknow Super Giants to 159 runs. Sam Curran, who led the Punjab Kings in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan, conquered the Lucknow batsmen by taking three wickets in four overs. Captain KL Rahul scored 74 runs for the Lucknow Super Giants.