New Delhi: Yuzvendra Chahal was suffering from a dodgy shoulder and had to pass a fitness test to be included in the Punjab Kings team for their IPL 2025 clash against Kolkata Knight Riders, coach Ricky Ponting has revealed.
Chahal produced a man of the match performance as his 4/28 helped hosts Punjab defend the lowest total in the history of the tournament in Mullanpur on Tuesday.
Punjab were bowled out for 111 in 15.3 overs and then saw KKR reach 71/3 in 9.1 overs after which the leg-spinner took matters in his own hands, dismissing Ajinkya Rahane, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh to trigger a sensational batting collapse.
Defending champions KKR were eventually bowled out for 95 in 15.1 overs to the delight of the home crowd. Speaking after the match, Ponting said he was proud of the way his bowlers performed in the low-scoring game.
“The heart rate is still up there. I’m 50 years now and don’t need more game like these. Defending 112, with 16 runs up our sleeves. We actually said to the guys at the halfway mark that these really small chases , like these, are sometimes the hardest,” he said.
“The wicket wasn’t easy, as you can see that right through the game, it was definitely holding up, but what about Chahal tonight? How good a spell of bowling was that! He actually had a fitness test before the game today with his shoulder injury he picked up in the last game and I grabbed him out of the warm-up and looked him in the eye and said, ‘Mate are you okay?’ He said coach I am 100 percent right, let me out there, yeah what a spell of bowling! Even if we had lost that game, I couldn’t have been proud of the way we went about the second half.”
Ponting was appointed coach of PBKS before the start of the tournament and had earlier been at the helm of Delhi Capitals. He rated this victory as the best of his coaching career in the IPL, though he admitted that their batting performance was poor.
“Wins like these are always the sweetest one, and if you can pull this off, then you should be as good as win as most guys been involved in and I have coached a lot of games in the IPL and that might just be about the best win I ever had,” the former Australia skipper said.
“Our batting was poor, the shot selection and execution that was all poor, but when I saw us take the field and we got the wickets early on and what we we have been lacking is, bit of belief to the ball and bit of energy in the field and that was there for everyone to see tonight. So, if we had gone down in a really close one, I would have been telling the guys that was actually a season-defining moment and might be now as well.”
Yuzvendra Chahal produced a man of the match performance as his 4/28 helped hosts Punjab Kings defend the lowest total in the history of IPL in a 16-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
