The second match of the IPL 2023 saw Punjab Kings (PBKS) hosting Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the IS Bindra-PCA Stadium in Mohali on April 1, 2023. Both teams have new captains in this new IPL season.

Nitish Rana, the interim KKR captain won the toss and chose to bowl first. PBKS got a good start with Shikhar Dhawan (40) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (50) adding 86 runs in quick time for the second wicket after Prabhsimran Singh (23) had given a flying start.

But then KKR managed to control the run flow though Sam Curran (26* in 17) helped PBKS to 191/5 in 20 overs.

KKR’s chase was delayed by 30 minutes or so as the floodlights in the ground malfunctioned.

However, when they came out to bat, the KKR lineup was rocked by Arshdeep Singh who picked the wickets of Mandeep Singh and Anukul Roy in his first over.

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Rahmanullah Gurbaz (22) and Venkatesh Iyer (35), who was brought in as impact player, stabilized the innings before Gurbaz was clean-bowled by Nathan Ellis. Then Iyer got support from Nitish Rana (24 in 17) and Andre Russell (35 in 19), as KKR battled the rising required run rate.

But PBKS got right back into the game with wickets of Rana, Rinku Singh, and then Russell, thanks to Sikandar Raza, Rahul Chahar, and Sam Curran respectively.

KKR needed 46 runs in 24 balls when the rain began pouring down with KKR on 146/7 in 16 overs. In the end, PBKS were declared the winners over KKR by 7 runs via the DLS method.  

BRIEF SCORES:

PBKS 191/5 (B RAJAPAKSA 50, S DHAWAN 40; T SOUTHEE 2/54) defeat KKR 146/7 (A RUSSELL 35; A SINGH 3/19) by 7 runs via the DLS method.