Ricky Ponting hails Yuzvendra Chahal’s epic spell as Punjab Kings defend lowest whole in IPL historical past.
Five matches, 2 wickets and an 11.13 economy rate, Yuzvendra Chahal was not even close to his best. He seemed out of touch, rhythm and depth. But Punjab Kings backed him. Had Ricky Ponting not backed him for the PBKS vs KKR match, they would have been on the losing side because it was Chahal’s magic spell that helped them defend the lowest total in IPL history. Ponting revealed that Chahal had an injury and he just passed a fitness test before the match.
“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,” Ricky Ponting said after the epic defence in Mullanpur.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s magic spell
After going for 1/56 in the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Yuzvendra Chahal was down in confidence. The Rs 18-crore spinner had a terrible outing in IPL 2025. With just 111 runs on the board, Punjab Kings did not even give him a chance to redeem himself. But Chahal tunred the match on its head.
Chahal came to bowl in the 8th over, with Kolkata Knight Riders’ win probability touching 97.81%. In the fourth ball of the over, he trapped Ajinkya Rahane LBW. While the replays showed that Rahane was not out but as the KKR captain opted not to review, the wicket stayed and that’s where it all went downhill.
He came back for the 10th over, dismissing Angkrish Raghuvanshi who was batting on 37. With the turn he was getting from the surface, Chahal was difficult to play. Despite taking two wickets, KKR were still in the game with just 40 runs to win. In between Maxwell trapped Venkatesh Iyer LBW.
As Yuzvendra Chahal came back for the 12th over, he put a leash on KKR with two wickets. First, he dismissed Rinku Singh, who was trying to beat his turn and came down the tracks, only to be stumped. In the next delivery, he removed Ramandeep Singh for a golden duck as he was caught in the slips by Shreyas Iyer. KKR went down to 76/7.
“The heart rate is still up there. I’m 50 years old now and don’t need more games 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,” Ponting said.
‘Best win I ever had’
While Andre Russell kept hopes alive with an 11-ball 17, Marco Jansen and Arshdeep Singh ensured KKR returned empty-handed. Punjab Kings won the match in 15.1 overs as KKR folded for 95. Ponting called it a season-defining match and the best win he ever had. If Ponting says this was the best win, one has to believe. Ponting had a lot of wins in his international career as a player and as a capain.
“Even if we had lost that game, I couldn’t have been proud of the way we went about the second half. Wins like these are always the sweetest one, and if you can pull this off, then you should be as good a win as most guys have 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,” Ponting said at the post-match.
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