Raza's maiden fifty scripts Punjab's narrow win

Raza's maiden fifty scripts Punjab's narrow win, in Match 21 IPL 2023, at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.

Match Report

Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza's half-century and some late boundaries from Shahrukh Khan led Punjab Kings to a two-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL on Saturday.

Raza made 57 in Punjab's chase of 160 before departing in the 18th over, but Shahrukh hit an unbeaten 23 off 10 balls to steer the team home with three balls to spare.

Raza started slowly but soon found his groove as he smashed four fours and three sixes in his 41-ball knock before falling to Ravi Bishnoi's leg-spin on a tough pitch.

Shahrukh top-edged a six off Mark Wood in the penultimate over and hit the winning boundary off Bishnoi as Punjab moved fourth in the 10-team table.

Sam Curran set up Punjab's win with bowling figures of 3-31 as he stood in as captain following an injury to regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan.

Curran and South Africa's Kagiso Rabada shared five wickets between them to limit Lucknow to 159-8.

Lucknow skipper KL Rahul made 74 -- his first half-century of the season -- and took a stunning diving catch wide of mid-off but his efforts failed to inspire the Super Giants, who slipped to their second loss in five matches.

Punjab initially stuttered in their chase after losing their openers to debutant pace bowler Yudhvir Singh and then Australian Matthew Short for 34.

But Pakistan-born Raza kept calm to keep the Kings in the hunt despite losing regular wickets including Curran for six.

Match Stats

Lucknow Super Giants Fall of wickets: 1-53 (Kyle Mayers - 7.4 ov), 2-62 (Deepak Hooda - 8.4 ov), 3-110 (Krunal Pandya - 14.2 ov), 4-111 (Nicholas Pooran - 14.3 ov), 5-142 (Marcus Stoinis - 17.5 ov), 6-150 (KL Rahul - 18.4 ov), 7-154 (Krishnappa Gowtham - 19.3 ov), 8-154 (Yudhvir Singh - 19.4 ov)

Punjab Kings Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Atharva Taide - 0.3 ov), 2-17 (Prabhsimran Singh - 2.2 ov), 3-45 (Matthew Short - 5.6 ov), 4-75 (Harpreet Singh - 10.6 ov), 5-112 (Sam Curran - 14.3 ov), 6-122 (Jitesh Sharma - 15.5 ov), 7-139 (Sikandar Raza - 17.5 ov), 8-153 (Harpreet Brar - 18.5 ov)

Playing XIs

Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (captain), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (wicket-keeper), Ayush Badoni, Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, Yudhvir Singh; Subs: Amit Mishra, Jaydev Unadkat, K Gowtham, Prerak Mankad, Daniel Sams

Impact player: Krishnappa Gowtham for Kyle Mayers (1st innings, 18.4 ov)

Punjab Kings: Atharva Taide, Harpreet Bhatia, Matthew Short, Sikandar Raza, Jitesh Sharma (wicket-keeper), Shahrukh Khan, Sam Curran (captain), Harpreet Brar, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh; Subs: Prabhsimran Singh, Nathan Ellis, Mohit Rathee, Rishi Dhawan

Impact player: Prabhsimran Singh for Rahul Chahar (1st innings, 19.6 ov)

Match Details

Toss: Punjab Kings, elected to field
Venue: Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow
Start time: 1400 hrs GMT
Match officials: Saiyed Khalid, Virender Sharma (On-field Umpires); Tapan Sharma (TV Umpire); Abhijit Bengeri (Reserve Umpire); Shakti Singh (Match-referee)