Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) produced a clinical bowling performance to thrash Punjab Kings (PBKS) for just 111 runs in their IPL 2025 clash at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on Tuesday. Meanwhile, mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy stole the show, as he removed the Aussie duo of Josh Inglis and Glenn Maxwell with his impressive wrong’un variation in his successive overs.
Home team skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bat first. Openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh gave a solid start as they raced to 39 runs in just 3.1 overs. Arya looked in good touch, smashing 22 off 12 balls, while Prabhsimran added 30. However, KKR’s bowlers triggered a collapse, particularly Rana with a double-wicket over, removing both Arya and Iyer in the same spell.
Inglis, playing his first match, became Chakravarthy’s first victim as he was bowled by a wrong’un while trying a slog sweep, completely misjudging it. Inglis’ six-ball stay ended with just two runs.
Furthermore, in the tenth over, the KKR skipper castled Maxwell with another deceptive delivery, a wrong’un that went through bat and pad to rattle the stumps. Maxwell, who has now fallen to Varun four times in the IPL, added just seven from 10 balls.
The 33-year-old finished with figures of 2 for 21 and later revealed that the pitch was more suited to 180 than 110, crediting Harshit for picking early wickets.
“I felt good bowling today and it is definitely not a 110 wicket, more of a 180 wicket. Their openers got to a good start, but all credit to Harshit Rana for the way he bowled in the opening spell. I can’t be more happier playing with him (Sunil Narine), I am happy that I am in the same side as him. I have been working back-of-the-hand leg spin and I tried both (front and back of the hand) today and it came out decently well. When I bowled my 3rd and 4th over, the ball was skidding so much and it is 190 wicket. There is slight dew and as you can see, they (the groundstaff) are trying to remove the dew,” he told the broadcasters during the mid-innings break.
Sunil Narine also added to PBKS’s woes, removing impact substitute Suryansh Shedge and Marco Jansen in quick succession, both falling while trying to tackle his variations. Anrich Nortje, on his KKR debut, also impressed by dismissing Nehal Wadhera, while Vaibhav Arora chipped in with the wicket of Shashank Singh. The collapse saw PBKS bundled out in just 15.3 overs, their fourth-lowest total in IPL history and second-worst against KKR.
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