Punjab Kings’ skipper Sam Curran succinctly captured the essence of their T20 world-record chase of 262 against Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. Led by Jonny Bairstow’s remarkable century, Punjab Kings surpassed KKR’s 261/6 with eight wickets and eight balls to spare.
“Cricket has turned into baseball, hasn’t it? We’re delighted with the two points,” Curran expressed during the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We’ve had a tough few weeks as a team. Forget about the scores, we deserved this victory.”
Reflecting on the trend of high scores in this IPL season, Curran attributed it to various factors including players’ abilities to hit balls for extended periods, coaching, training, dew conditions, and the influence of umpiring decisions on the game’s flow.
“For us, it’s all about the small moments. With the ball also, we hung in there,” he added.
Speaking of Bairstow’s exceptional innings and Shashank Singh’s aggressive batting, Curran expressed his satisfaction, particularly highlighting Shashank’s impact since being promoted to No. 4 in the batting order.
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“Really pleased for Jonny; he’s been on tour for a long time and was eager to score. Shashank, wow, he was promoted to No. 4 and he’s been our find of the season,” Curran remarked.
Bairstow, named Player of the Match, emphasized the importance of the strong start provided by the opening partnership of 93 runs in six overs.
“We got off to a good start and that was key. They got a flier themselves thanks to Sunil, so we knew we had to go ballistic in the powerplay,” Bairstow said.
Praising Shashank’s consistent performance throughout the season, Bairstow acknowledged his composure and clean hitting.
“Shashank has done it all season, a lovely guy and special player,” he said.
Punjab Kings’ chase surpassed South Africa’s 259/4 against West Indies last year and Rajasthan Royals’ previous IPL record of chasing down 224 against KKR.
KKR captain Shreyas Iyer credited both teams for their tremendous performance and acknowledged the need to reassess strategies after failing to defend the target.
“The way the batters batted was tremendous. So much you ask of them and they delivered. Both teams played tremendously. You have to go back to the drawing board and see where you went wrong,” Iyer remarked.
“Not defending hurts, but it’s a great lesson for the players,” he added.
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