Rahmanullah Gurbaz smashes 101-m six to Sam Curran:
Punjab Kings defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 runs (DLS) to kick-start their IPL 2023 campaign with a win, in Mohali, on Saturday.
A terrific half-century from Bhanuka Rajapaksa (50 off 32) and cameos from other batters propelled PBKS’ score to 191. In reply, KKR kept losing early wickets. They were downed to 80/5 in 10.1 overs before Andre Russell tried to turn the tide with his belligerent hitting.
Russell smashed 35 runs off 19 balls but was dismissed by Sam Curran. KKR were 146/7 at the 16-over mark with Shardul Thakur and Sunil Narine at the crease when rain arrived to halt the match. Soon after the drizzle became a heavy shower and the came was called off. At the 16-over mark, with 7 wickets down, the target for KKR was learned to be 153, and they were 7 runs short of it as PBKS were announced the winner.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz made his IPL debut for KKR today. The aggressive Afghanistan opener struck the right chords with the IPL fans as he smashed a massive 101 meters six to Sam Curran in his entertaining stay of 16 balls for 22 runs.
On the 5th ball of the first over of KKR’s innings, Rahmanullah Gurbaz skipped down and made room for himself to free his arms against Curran. The right-hander saw the ball well and connected with his powerful slog to send the ball way over the wide long-on fence, deep into the stands got a gigantic 101-metre maximum.
Watch: Rahmanullah Gurbaz hits the first six over 100 meters in IPL 2023
Arshdeep Singh was awarded the Player of the Match for his brilliant bowling figures of 3/19 in a high-scoring encounter.
Shikhar Dhawan, the winning PBKS captain, said: “It’s a great feeling to start the tournament with a win, we’ll try to take the momentum in the next game and carry that confidence ahead. According to the situation I used those bowlers, good thing we have got plenty of bowlers in the side. I knew Raza was going to be handy against the left-handers, so he gave us three quality overs. Also have experienced bowlers like Sam Curran and Arshdeep in the side.
“Wanted to be aggressive and at the same time smart. Was trying to hold one end, and if I got out, someone else would do that. They are youngsters and they are learning. We all are living our dream and we should be happy about it. As a leader I make sure the team stays relaxed and in a happy state of mind.”
