NEW DELHI: It was absolute madness at the Eden Gardens as Punjab Kings pulled off a miraculous 262 chase against Kolkata Knight Riders to smash the T20 record.
It was another run fest this IPL season as boundaries rained amid batting mayhem at the Mecca of Cricket.
As bowlers were blown to smithereens, Punjab pulled off the world record chase, surpassing South Africa record of 259 against West Indies in March last year.
Led by Jonny Bairstow's incredible hundred, Punjab Kings set a new world record for the highest run-chase ever on the day where a total of 523 runs scored by both teams combined.
Highest targets successfully chased in men’s T20 cricket
262 - Punjab Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders, Kolkata, IPL 2024259 - South Africa vs West Indies, Centurion, 2023253 - Middlesex vs Surrey, The Oval, T20 Blast 2023244 - Australia vs New Zealand, Auckland, 2018243 - Bulgaria vs Serbia, Sofia, 2022243 - Multan Sultans vs Peshawar Zalmi, Rawalpindi, PSL 2023
It was the third instance this IPL when the record of 500-run aggregate was breached.
Highest aggregates in an IPL match
549 - RCB vs SRH, Bengaluru, 2024523 - SRH vs MI, Hyderabad, 2024523 - KKR vs PBKS, Kolkata, 2024469 - CSK vs RR, Chennai, 2010465 - DC vs SRH, Delhi, 2024
With Punjab blowing away the world record, they managed to do it effortlessly with 8 balls to spare.
In the IPL, Rajasthan Royals held the previous record for chasing down 224 against KKR at Eden Gardens recently, equalling the record they had set against then Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2020 in Sharjah.
Sent into bat, Kolkata Knight Riders scored 261/6 but PBKS completed the chase with absolute ease amid a batting carnage from their top-order batters.
KKR rode on a 138-run partnership between openers Phil Salt (75 off 37 balls) and Sunil Narine (71 off 32 balls).
The batters that followed the openers then consolidated the home team's position and took them to an imposing total.
Most sixes in a Men’s T20 match
42 - KKR vs PBKS, Kolkata, IPL 202438 - SRH vs MI, Hyderabad, IPL 202438 - RCB vs SRH, Bengaluru, IPL 202437 - Balkh Legends v Kabul Zwanan, Sharjah, APL 2018/1937 - SKNP vs JT, Basseterre, CPL 2019
In reply, PBKS too were off to a great start and scored 93 runs for the loss of Prabhsimran Singh's wicket in the powerplay.
Prabhsimran blazed away to a 20-ball 54 before getting run out. Bairstow continued his brutal onslaught to help PBKS pull off a stunning win. Bairstow (108 off 48 balls) was well-supported by the in-from Shashank Singh who smashed 68 in only 28 balls.
