IPL 2023: Kings cut Giants down to size as Raza and Shahrukh Khan ace chase

Synopsis: Gritty KL Rahul set a 160-run target with 74 but a cool Sikandar Raza led a masterly chase before the imperious Shahrukh Khan sealed the finish
The cool Raza
Punjab were 75 for 4, 85 runs adrift of the target in the 12th over, when Sikandar Raza sashayed down the pitch to wallop K Gowtham over long-off. And as the captain Sam Curran, fresh to the crease, reached for the mid-pitch chat, Raza patted his back, and shrugged his shoulders as if to say, ‘don’t worry, we shall get this done’. It wasn’t a faint boast. In the next over, against Krunal Pandya, who much to his captain KL Rahul’s visible disappointment, kept bowling short and on the leg and middle, Raza tonked two sixes and a four. The crowd and camera oohed and aahed as in all three occasions the fielder was Yudhvir Singh, jumping twice vainly near the ropes to keep the ball in, and once lunging in effort to reach the ball. But Raza had done the damage, and reduced the equation to 62 from 44 balls with that final boundary. Then he lapped Gowtham to the fine-leg boundary in the first ball of the next over to signal he was the man to stand between LSG and a win.
The chase seemed to be in a pickle when Sam Curran fell, but when the equation came to 44 from 28, Raza played a peachy short-arm lap shot off Mark Wood to knock out four runs off the target. It was yet another mini-turning point.

Talk about scoring your maiden IPL fifty in an eventful chase for your team 😎#TATAIPL | #LSGvPBKS | @PunjabKingsIPL
Relive @SRazaB24‘s impressive half-century 🎥🔽https://t.co/s8qalZMZhy pic.twitter.com/fDzjY1X10a
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2023
When Jitesh Sharma soon fell to Wood, and they still needed 35 runs, the imperious Shahrukh Khan thumped his first ball off Mark Wood into the long-on stands. His dug out sprang up on their feet and they remained there next ball when Raza almost got involved in a run-out but just about got to his crease. But there was one final turn left in the game.
Bishnoi’s over of thrift and guile
The googly bowler Ravi Bishnoi was brought on KL Rahul with the equation reading 23 from 18 balls.
The game was on the line and he had to deal with Shahrukh Khan in hitting form and Sikandar Raza past his fifty. But Bishnoi rose to the occasion, squirting in his googlies and sliders on the leg and middle, cramping Shahrukh for room in the first three balls. Off the fifth, Raza swept the ball straight to long-leg. Just 3 came off that over, and now it was up to Shahrukh, for Punjab. And Wood for LSG.

Shahrukh Khan gets @PunjabKingsIPL over the line 🔥🔥
What a finish to an epic chase 🙌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/OHcd6VfDps #TATAIPL | #LSGvPBKS pic.twitter.com/jGzGulGL45
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2023
Shahrukh went for the pull off the Wood bouncer in the second ball of the penultimate over, and the top edge had the ball flying over the wicketkeeper’s head and all the way for a game-turning six. And Harpreet Brar backed away on the fourth ball to smash Wood to the long-off boundary, but was out caught behind off the next ball to leave Punjab needing 7 from 7. But Shahrukh held his nerves in the final over to finish.

The ball’s back in @LucknowIPL‘s court 🙌@bishnoi0056 gets Sikander Raza and #PBKS need 20 off the final two!
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/OHcd6VfDps#TATAIPL | #LSGvPBKS pic.twitter.com/qu4K6IQS0p
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2023
Gritty Rahul sets target
On a two-faced pitch, setting the target was always going to be a tricky affair, and it proved hard work for KL Rahul’s team. The pitch had the ball doing all things: Kagiso Rabada had one spit up at Rahul’s face from just back off a length; the leg spinner Rahul Chahar had one turn viciously from leg stump to miss the off peg; Sam Curran and Arshdeep Singh had slower ones get stuck on the pitch and rise ever so slowly; and there were numerous times when the sluggish version of pitch reared up, sucking out the life from the balls.
On such a pitch, Rahul did his best, his shot of the day coming right after a snorter from Rabada had pinned him. His response next ball though was great. He leaned forward to punch a length delivery, a tad fuller than the previous, through the line, on the up and over covers for a one-bounce four. To trust the pitch and himself after that near-knockout blow was quite something. With the ball turning every now and then, Rahul chose not to step down the track; instead, preferring to back away to the spinners even if it meant cutting from the middle stump. He got a couple of fours via that method. With wickets falling, he slowed down a touch, before opening his shoulders again to get some quick runs. An uppercut six off Rabada was the highlight in that final phase before he holed out to long-on in the 19th over.

Leading from the front 👌👌
First fifty of the season for @klrahul & 1⃣0⃣0⃣ up for @LucknowIPL 👏👏
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/OHcd6Vf5zU #TATAIPL | #LSGvPBKS pic.twitter.com/OuhU5XEX3i
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2023
He had his moment in the chase too. When 38 runs were needed, Jitesh Sharma drove Mark Wood uppishly to his left at mid-on in the 16th over, but Rahul moved swiftly to take a sharp diving low chance to squeeze in the pressure on Punjab but Raza and then Shahrukh thwarted Rahul.