Last year Punjab Kings (PBKS) pulled off the highest successful chase in the IPL when they came across Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). This year, they have nailed the lowest successful defence, bowling KKR out for 95 after posting just 111. And this after they failed to defend 245 in their previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

At 62 for 2, KKR were 98% favourites to win, but Yuzvendra Chahal triggered a sensational collapse in conditions that were almost as helpful for the seamers as in Test cricket. Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansesn then applied the finishing touches with incisive short bowling, something KKR had used to end up with a paltry target to chase.

The ball seamed 0.5 degrees on average, and both the batting sides approached the game with high intent. Anything full flew because of the pace in the pitch, but once wickets fell, they did so in clutches. Accordingly, things happened quickly, the game swung wildly. PBKS went from 39 for 0 in 19 balls to 15 for 4 in the next 17. They lost their last wickets for 37. KKR were 7 for 2 in 1.2 overs, but scored 55 in the next 38 balls. Chahal then inspired a collapse of six wickets in 5.1 overs. The final twist was Andre Russell taking 16 off one Chahal over to rearrange his figures to 4-0-28-4, but the big left-arm quicks turned to seal the win that took PBKS into the top four.

KKR beefed up their fast bowling with Anrich Nortje ostensibly because they wanted to test the young Indian batters in PBKS, who have been doing the heavy-lifting for them. However, the openers targeted Vaibhav Arora’s second over to threaten a repeat of their high-scoring exploits. Harshit Rana, though, turned things around with shorter lengths. The wickets themselves might look innocuous but the short balls did create doubts as they stopped a little and also seamed appreciably. Priyansh Arya found deep square leg, Shreyas Iyer cut a short and wide ball straight to deep point, and Prabhsimran Singh was cramped on the cut. All three catches ended up with Ramandeep Singh.

Probably expecting high pace, PBKS reinforced their overseas batting by bringing in Josh Inglis for Marcus Stoinis. However, both their overseas batters failed to read Varun Chakravarthy from the hand. Inglis was bowled off a wrong’un trying to slog-sweep, Glenn Maxwell looking for a single.

PBKS even went for an SOS substitution, which would leave Maxwell as the fifth bowler. Sunil Narine, though, took out the Impact Player Suryansh Shedge and Jansen in the same over. A run-out between Arshdeep and IPL debutant Xavier Bartlett ended what looked like a sorry innings. The KKR seamers took 4 for 23 in 29 balls pitched shorter than 8m in length while 24 balls fuller than that went for 49 runs.

Continuing with the trend, Jansen, given the first over ahead of Arshdeep, wasted no time in testing the middle of the pitch. The ball seamed in to beat Narine’s pull, and took the top of the stumps. Bartlett, renowned for new-ball wickets in the BBL, got Quinton de Kock with the rare traditional length ball as de Kock got a massive top edge on the flick.

A few fielding errors got the partnership between Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi going, and there were calculations about the net run-rate boost that could help KKR get to the top of the table.

The IPL’s highest wicket-taker,  Chahal had had an indifferent start this year with just two wickets in the first six matches. He had to take a fitness test and then reassure Ricky Ponting just to play this match. The dew had already set in as seen in how a Bartlett throw from the boundary actually slipped out for four overthrows behind him. Still Chahal kept giving the ball a rip, slowed his pace down and took out not just set batters, Rahane and Raghuvanshi, but also Rinku Singh and Ramandeep.

Rahane was beaten on the sweep, had got himself outside the line, but failed to review the lbw call. That was among Chahal’s quicker balls at 84.3kmph, but once he got a look-in he started to loop it. Raghuvanshi and Rinku were both beaten in the flight. Raghuvanshi got a thick edge to backward point, and Rinku was stumped after having been dragged out of the crease by the dip and the drift. Ramandeep premeditated a paddle-sweep first ball, and top-edged to leg slip where the anticipating Iyer had already reached from slip.

Almost halfway into the league stage, Russell’s strike-rate read 92, his season tally 23 off 25 and match score 1 off 4. The last player who could support him, Rana, had been softened up and then bowled by Jansen’s short-pitch bowling. KKR still needed 33 with two wickets in hand. This is when Russell showed up and hit Chahal for two sixes and a four to cut the deficit in half.

Arshdeep had Arora in sights for a whole over if he could manage. He pitched two balls up from around the wicket. The second could have been a single if Russell had sprinted off, but he didn’t. Arshdeep now went over the wicket and started to dig the ball in. Arora was hit on the arm as he looked to duck, beaten as he fended, and then lucky to survive as he fended again. For the last ball of the over, Arshdeep went around the wicket and bowled a snorter to take the edge right in front of Arora’s nose.

The over ended, Russell still had another shot at the target. However, he bottom-edged the first ball of the next over to kickstart rapturous celebrations in Mullanpur.

Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 111 in 15.3 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 30, Priyansh Arya 22, Nehal Wadhera 10, Shashnak Singh 18, Xavier Bartlett 11; Vaibhav Arora 1-26, Anrich Nortje 1-23, Harshit Rana 3-25, Sunil Narine 2-14, Varun  Chakravarthy 2-21) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 95 in 15.1 overs  (Ajinkya Rahane 17, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 37, Andre Rusell 17; Yuzvendra Chahal 4-28, Marco Jansen 3-17, Xavier Bartlett 1-30, Arshdeep Singh 1-11, Glenn Maxwell 1-05) by 16 runs

[Cricinfo]

West Indies’ ODI World Cup hopes are hanging by a thread after they slumped to a second defeat in three matches in the qualifier in Lahore. They were beaten by 65 runs by hosts Pakistan, who have moved to the top of the points table, and are undefeated in the event so far as they remain on track for the Women’s World Cup.

Both teams, though, still have to play unbeaten Bangladesh and win-less Thailand. West Indies, meanwhile, have to win their remaining two matches, and hope other results go their way to help them get to the World Cup.

After bowling Pakistan out for 191, West Indies would have felt their bowlers had done most of the hard work against a line-up that continues to struggle to build partnerships and score quickly. Pakistan had no half-century stands – their highest was 47 runs for the second wicket between Muneeba Ali and Sidra Amin – and no one in their top five had a strike rate over 60. But a quality bowling attack and much improved fielding helped Pakistan defend what seemed a bowler-par total for the second time in the campaign.

Captain Fatima Sana led from the front, and after holding herself back until the 24th over against Scotland, took the new ball under lights in this game. Her first delivery was full and straight, and clipped the top of  Hayley Matthews’  back pad. As a result, Sana had her opposite number out for a first-ball duck. Matthews looked disappointed with the decision, but with no reviews at the qualifier, she could only trudge off.

The experienced Shemaine Campbelle was sent out ahead of Zaida James at No. 3 but was run-out for the second time in the tournament. Campbelle tucked a delivery from Sadia Iqbal on the leg side, and set off for a single, but didn’t account for Sidra Nawaz’s speed. Keeping wicket in place of Muneeba, who has been left to focus on her batting, Nawaz charged off to field the ball, and her direct hit caught Campbelle out of her ground.

Three overs later, West Indies had another mishap. Diana Baig appealed for an lbw against Jannillea Glasgow as the ball bobbled to slip. Glasgow and James took the opportunity to steal a run, but Nawaz was quick to see them hesitate and called for the ball while the umpire was still deciding on the appeal. Nawaz ran James out to leave West Indies at 29 for 3, but with Stafanie Taylor still in the hut. Taylor had taken ill in the field, and could not come out to bat until an hour and a quarter into the innings, or until West Indies were five down, whichever came first.

That is why Chinelle Henry walked out to bat at No. 5, and joined Glasgow. Henry slapped the first ball she faced for four, and hit two more boundaries in her first seven balls.

Left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu was brought on in the 12th over, and dismised Glasgow and Henry in the space of three balls to all but end West Indies’ hopes. They were 54 for 5 when Taylor walked in, before she shared a 34-run sixth wicket stand with Shabika Gajnabi. Taylor started to look threatening when she hit Rameen Shamim back over her head for six but was caught by Muneeba at short fine leg, and West Indies had no senior batters left.

Sana came back to take two late wickets, and finished with figures of 3 for 16. She is now joint-second on the tournament’s wicket-takers’ list, and just behind Matthews, who has ten wickets. That will be scant consolation to Matthews, who had Gull Feroza out early and took 2 for 30 in ten overs in this match, given the state West Indies find themselves in.

Though their bowling was tight, and only Karishma Ramharack conceded above five runs an over, their batting has let them down. After finishing World Cup 2022 as semi-finalists, they could miss out on the 2025 edition altogether after losses to Scotland and Pakistan.

West Indies have two days off before their next match against Bangladesh, and will want to use that time to address their batting concerns, including whether to bring Qiana Joseph back into the XI. Pakistan, too, will have some worries about their batting. Muneeba laboured to 33 off 60 balls, and Amin took 86 balls to get to fifty, but they anchored the innings.

No other batter scored more than Sidra Nawaz’s 23, and the middle order’s inconsistency is something they will want to address in coming games. Pakistan play Thailand on Thursday, and then play Bangladesh in their final game on Saturday.

Should Pakistan qualify for the World Cup, their matches will take place outside of India, in accordance with the hybrid model agreed on by the BCCI and PCB earlier this year.

Brief scores:
Pakistan Women 191 in 49.5 overs (Muneeba Ali 33, Sidra Amin 54, Aliya Riyaz 20, Sidra Nawaz 23; Hayley Matthews 2-30, Afy Fletcher 2-39, Karishma Ramharak 2-55) beat West Indies Women 126 in 39.2 overs (Aaliya Alleyne 22, Shabika Gajnabi 21;  Fatima Sana 3-16, Rameen Shamim 2-26, Nashra Sandhu 2-31) by 65 runs

[Cricinfo]