Punjab Kings (PBKS) pulled off the biggest ever chase in T20 cricket as they tracked down 262 runs with much ease against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Friday, April 26 at the Eden Gardens. 523 runs being scored meant the bowlers were at the receiving end, which has basically become a norm, especially in the 2024 edition of the IPL with 260 being breached 7 times in this season alone when it was anomaly given it was done only once in the previous 16 seasons of the tournament.
All the bowlers had a pretty rough day on the field, however, Punjab's stand-in skipper Sam Curran achieved an embarrassing record, a day after it was broken by Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins. Curran, who gave away 60 runs in his spell bowled the most expensive spell by a captain in IPL, surpassing Cummins, who leaked 55 runs against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, a day before in Hyderabad.
Most expensive spell by a captain in the IPL
1/60 - Sam Curran (PBKS) vs KKR (Kolkata, 2024)
1/55 - Pat Cummins (SRH) vs RCB (Hyderabad, 2024)
0/53 - R Ashwin (KXIP) vs SRH (Mohali, 2018)
1/50 - Shane Warne (RR) vs KXIP (Mohali, 2011)
1/50 - Zaheer Khan (DD) vs RCB (Bengaluru, 2016)
However, that didn't matter much as despite leaking so many runs, Curran's Punjab ended up on the right side of the result with Jonny Bairstow, Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh doing to KKR what their batters did to the visiting bowlers on a flat wicket with small boundaries and fast outfield.
Bairstow slammed his second IPL ton while Shashank played an unbeaten knock of 68 off just 28 deliveries to pull off a heist of the highest order with a ridiculous nonchalance, given there were eight balls to spare and three singles were taken to get through to the victory.
