Rajasthan Royals had previously chased the highest target of 224 runs twice in the IPL – against the then Kings XI Punjab in Sharjah in 2020 and against Kolkata at the Eden this season.
In that same Eden, Punjab broke all the records. Their hero Bairstow played an unbeaten innings of 108 runs off 48 balls with 9 sixes and 8 fours.
His opening partner Pravsimran scored 54 runs off 20 balls with 5 sixes and 4 fours. Shashank played an innings of 68 runs from 28 balls with 8 sixes and 2 fours and returned with the victory of the team with Bairstow.
A total of 42 sixes were scored between the two teams in this match. Which is the highest in any T20 match. The previous record was 38 sixes in this IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore and Hyderabad.
On this day, 24 sixes were scored in Punjab’s innings. Which is the highest in an innings in IPL. Hyderabad’s previous record was 22 sixes against Bengaluru in the current season.
Only Nepal have more sixes in an innings than Punjab in this edition. They hit 26 sixes on their way to 314 for 3 against Mongolia in last year’s Asian Games. They also have the record of the only 300-run innings in T20.
Chasing a big target, Pravsimran came in as Arshdeep Singh’s ‘impact replacement’ and scored a fifty off just 18 balls in the power play. His runs were 54 off 20 balls in the first five overs, Bairstow’s 12 off just 10 overs.
In the next over, Bairstow hit two fours and a six off the first four balls of Anukul Roy. Pravsimran was run out in that over. After losing his wicket, Punjab scored 93 runs in the power play.
Riley Russo departed with 26 runs off 16 balls for three. Bairstow led the team to victory in an unbroken 37-ball 84-run partnership with Shashank after a 39-ball 85-run partnership with him.
This English batsman completed his century off 45 balls. Jointly the second fastest century for Punjab in the IPL.
This is Bairstow’s second century in this franchise league in India. He played an innings of 114 runs off 56 balls against Bangalore for Hyderabad in the 2019 season.
However, Bairstow could not do well in his previous six matches in this tournament. There was no fifty, thirty can be released only once. Finally he got up.
Punjab needed 52 runs in the last four overs. Shashank hit three sixes in the 17th over bowled by Sri Lankan pacer Dusmantha Chamira. In the next over, he hit Harshit Rana with two consecutive sixes for his second fifty of the tournament off 23 balls. The winning run also came from his bat.
The devastating innings of Phil Salt (75 off 37 balls) and Sunil Narine (71 off 32 balls) failed for Kolkata. Narine, the Caribbean off-spinning all-rounder, also excels in bowling. He took the wicket of Russo with 24 runs in 4 overs. But the day was not his, it was not Calcutta’s. Punjab flew with the bat of Pravsimran, Bairstow and Shashank.
