'Barish ne bacha diya' - Fans react as Punjab kickoff their ITL 2023 campaign with a rain-drenched win over Kolkata

The 16^th edition of the Indian T20 League featured a doubleheader on Day 2 of the tournament as Kolkata and Punjab geared up in Mohali. At the same time, Lucknow and Delhi awaited the end of the action in Mohali to get started at Ekana Sports City. The tournament saw a grand opening in Ahmedabad followed by an intense game between Chennai and Gujarat that stretched itself to the final over. Gujarat, chasing a target of 179 runs, made the chase look very easy in the end as they reached home with four balls remaining.

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The season’s second game started with Kolkata winning the toss and inviting Punjab to bat first. The home team got off to a flying start, with openers Prabhsimran Singh and Shikhar Dhawan striking at a good rate. However, Singh fell prematurely at a score of 23. Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Shikhar Dhawan then took Punjab past the 100-run mark. Jitesh Sharma and Sam Curran’s handy contributions took the team total to 191/5 in their quota of 20 overs.

Arshdeep Singh dazzled in Punjab’s win, taking 3/19

With the ball, Tim Southee remained the pick of the bowlers for Kolkata, who returned with two scalps despite going for a hefty 54 runs in his four overs. Sunil Narine, Umesh Yadav and impact sub-Varun Chakravarthy returned with one wicket apiece. In reply, Kolkata kept losing regular wickets. Impact player Venkatesh Iyer with 34 off 28, and Andre Russell, with 35 off 19, tried to steady it up for Kolkata. They reached 146/7 in 16 overs when rain interrupted play.

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DLS Method was then triggered, and Punjab won the game by 7 runs for the reduced target of 154 runs in 16 overs. Arshdeep Singh remained the star for Punjab, returning with three wickets for just 19 runs in four overs. Next in the Indian T20 League, another doubleheader awaits on Sunday. Hyderabad and Rajasthan will face off in the first game of the day, while Bangalore opens their campaign against Mumbai in an action-packed second game of Super Sunday.

Here’s how fans reacted to the rain-drenched win for Punjab:

Just an ordinary fixing day in Fixing league 😭

— Talal Mazhar🇵🇰 (@MazaharTalal) April 1, 2023

Sam Curran wicket changed the game. Else Russell would've crossed the DLS score.

— ICT Hater / 🇦🇺💪🏻 (@yorkerking01) April 1, 2023

PBSDK Chokers won the match by Unfair Means

Their Poor Floodlights didnt work for 30 minutes or the match would have been done

— Mayank (@Mayankkk98) April 1, 2023

dukh dard pain aansu pic.twitter.com/toApZuQMtI

— Anant Kashyap (@theanantkashyap) April 1, 2023

KKR team management need to kept in museum for assembling such a squad in IPL 2023.

KKR fans after team performance :) pic.twitter.com/uG2xLOIluF

— Shakti Man 💥 (@IamShaktiMann) April 1, 2023

KKR lost by 7 runs due to rain

PBKS to KKR : pic.twitter.com/4kDc8E9cX6

— ً (@SarcasticCowboy) April 1, 2023

pic.twitter.com/bhxyPP48cG

— Priyanka 👑 (@iPriiyanka) April 1, 2023

We will miss u on the batting sir shardul pic.twitter.com/iPfcVPwzyX

— Honey (@Aqibsahoo2) April 1, 2023