Explosive knocks from opener Priyansh Arya and Cooper Connolly helped top of the table Punjab Kings hammer Lucknow Super Giants by 54 runs to stay unbeaten in the season Sunday.
Arya struck 93 off 37 balls and fellow left-hander Connolly hit 87 to power Punjab to this season’s highest total of 254-7 after being invited to bat first in Chandigarh.
In reply, Lucknow managed just 200-5 as Punjab consolidated their top spot in the 10-team table with five wins and one no result in six matches.
An early reprieve for Connolly proved costly for Lucknow after skipper Rishabh Pant decided not to review an lbw call in the second over from Mohsin Khan and replays suggested the ball would have hit the stumps.
Australia’s Connolly was on four at the time and put on 182 runs for the second wicket with Arya as the two bludgeoned the opposition attack with 16 sixes between them.
“It was exceptional, some of the shots were jaw dropping,” said Punjab skipper Shreyas Iyer.
“I was just talking to Cooper and Priyansh, we were challenging as to who will hit the most sixes for the season, they are up for it.”
Arya reached his second fifty of the season in 19 balls and soon the Lucknow attack had no answers for the batting blitz.
Connolly went after Aiden Markram with three straight sixes and Arya finished the over with two more in a 32-run 13th over and Punjab looked at 300.
But pace bowler Prince Yadav took down Connolly and Arya fell three balls later in the next over to miss out on a century.
Mohsin dismissed Iyer for five but Australia’s Marcus Stoinis steered the team to a mammoth total with his 16-ball 29.
Mitchell Marsh, who hit 40, and Ayush Badoni (35) handed Lucknow a brisk start and Pant hit 43 but regular wickets and the ever-increasing run rate kept the team behind the chase.
Markram hit a valiant 22-ball 42 and despite a few dropped catches from Punjab fielders Lucknow lost their third straight match.
“Definitely, we believe in this team for sure,” said Pant. “But at the same time when the opposition is playing well, like Punjab is playing now, you’ve got to give credit to them for playing good hard cricket also.”
In the first match of the day, Rinku Singh hit an unbeaten 53 to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to their first win of the IPL season as they beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets.
Rajasthan posted 155-9 as their batting faltered after 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi top-scored with 46 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.
Three-time champions Kolkata slipped to 5-2 and 85-6 before the left-handed Rinku steered the team home with two balls to spare.
Source: Khaleej Times