The opening game of Indian Premier League's (IPL) action packed second day saw Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Kolkata Knight Riders taking on with each other at the I.S. Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Saturday (April 1). Shikhar Dhawan-led PBKS rode on Bhanuka Rajapaksa's cracking half century to post a challenging total 191/5. But right after the first innings, the match was hindered which saw players walking off the field.
The reason behind the delay in the second innings was failure in switching on the floodlights. However, after waiting for nearly 15 minutes, players made their way to the field again in order to resume the match.
Nitish Rana won the toss and elected to bowl first. For KKR, Afghanistan player Rahmanullah Gurbaz made his IPL debut while Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza was included in the playing XI for Punjab Kings.
PBKS to field first, Rajapaksa slammed a 32-ball 50 and stitched a vital 86-run stand with skipper Shikhar Dhawan for the second wicket. Dhawan was dismissed for 40 (29), while Sam Curran chipped in with an unbeaten 26 off 17 balls. Meanwhile, Tim Southee was the most expensive among KKR bowlers. The Kiwi quick conceded 54 runs and scalped two wickets in his quota.
KKR's Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Mandeep Singh, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Anukul Roy, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Subs: Suyash, Arora, Jagadeesan, Venkatesh Iyer and Wiese.
PBKS' Playing XI: 1 Shikhar Dhawan (capt), 2 Prabhsimran Singh, 3 Bhanuka Rajapaksa, 4 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 5 Sam Curran, 6 Sikandar Raza, 7 Shahrukh Khan, 8 Nathan Ellis, 9 Harpreet Brar, 10 Rahul Chahar, 11 Arshdeep Singh.
Subs: Rishi Dhawan, Taide, Matt Short, Bhatia and Rathee.
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