Jonny Bairstow's whirlwind century takes Punjab Kings home against KKR in record IPL and T20 chase

Jonny Bairstow celebrates after guiding Punjab Kings home against KKR

It was a Friday night where bowlers, barring Sunil Narine, felt like they were bowling machines. And fielders made to feel redundant for most of the time. It was also a night where Punjab Kings (PBKS) needed Jonny Bairstow to come good. And he did with a 45-ball 100 and an unbeaten 108 that took PBKS to an eight-wicket victory that was as easy in the end as it looked unreal earlier in the evening.

With Shashank Singh scoring another quickfire 68* in 28 balls, the chase ended in 18.4 overs, the unbroken third-wicket stand producing 84 in 37 balls. And to think PBKS needed 262 to win. It was the highest successful chase in T20 history. There were 42 sixes in all, another record.

Bowling was their strong suit but in 15.2 overs, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had done to Kings what no team had done in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this term – score 200. KKR again began in Max Verstappen mode with Phil Salt and Narine. They continued in the same vein pretty much through the innings. The innings ended on 261/6. No team has scored as much here in IPL history. And then there were two that did. This was batting with one plan of attack – attack.

KKR hit 18 sixes and 22 fours. With dew making bowling difficult, PBKS had hit 24 sixes and 15 fours. The 18th over in KKR’s innings went for 24 as Shreyas Iyer, getting into the swing of things soon after coming in, tore into Sam Curran. When Curran, leading in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan, dug it in, Iyer sent it for six over square-leg. When Iyer, moving away, invited Curran to aim for the stumps and he did, it was flicked for six. Finally, Curran aimed for the off-side and the KKR skipper smoked him for six more square of the wicket.

The innings was ending like it had begun. Actually, scratch that. It had slowed down with the 19th and 20th overs yielding 10 and 12 runs respectively. Quite ridiculous to think that it made the difference between a win and a loss for KKR.

To a hammer everything is a nail and that is how the evening continued with Prabhsimran Singh and Bairstow. Each ball from impact substitute Anukul Roy went for a four or six and the Kings had bettered KKR’s power play score of 76 by 17 runs. Singh’s run-out by Narine off the last delivery of the sixth was every bit the anti-climax it was.

You knew Singh was in business from how he dealt with the first two balls of Narine. The first went for four as Singh moved inside, the next soared into the night sky for a six. In keeping with how the evening was turning out for bowlers, Singh got to his half-century in 18 balls. That made Narine getting to the mark in 23-balls and Salt in 25 look staid in comparison.

Picking his slower balls, Singh gave Dushmantha Chameera the kind of treatment batters have singled out Mitchell Starc, the Sri Lanka fast bowler going for 23 in the third over. Bairstow too rediscovered his mojo and got to his first 50 of the season in 23 balls. Kings got to 100 in 7.2 overs, four deliveries less than what KKR took. After 149/1 after 11, they were ahead of the asking rate. By the end of the 14th they were 20 runs ahead.

It could have been a lot less had PBKS held on to their catches. Narine (71) was dropped on 16 by Harpreet Brar at backward point off Harshal Patel. He celebrated by swinging the next ball for six. Salt (75) was given a life on 34 when Curran failed to hold on to a regulation catch at mid-off and on 35 by Kagiso Rabada off Rahul Chahar. The Salt-Narine joint-venture scored 138 runs in 63 balls. The Iyers, Shreyas and Venkatesh, continued, Andre Russell chipped in with a 12-ball 24 and the first ball Ramandeep Singh faced, he went down on his knees and hit a six. Narine finished with 1/24 in his spell but it wasn’t enough.

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