Punjab Kings 161 for 8 (Raza 57, Short 34) beat Lucknow Super Giants 159 for 8 (Rahul 74, Curran 3-31) by two wickets
Sikandar Raza's maiden IPL gig at the age of 36 was reward for his compelling performances with bat and ball at the T20 World Cup last year. But three games into this season, his rich form seemed to elude him.
The delayed arrival of Liam Livingstone and a subsequent niggle meant that Raza had a fourth chance to impress. And he didn't miss a beat, at least for the most part.
Needing to turnaround Punjab Kings' chase of 160 from a precarious 45 for 3 on a sluggish surface in Lucknow, Raza held the middle order together for much of the innings. But when he picked out Marcus Stoinis at deep backward square leg on 57, with Kings needing 21 off 13 balls, there was another twist.
But Shahrukh Khan wasn't giving up.
At one end, he had to contend with Mark Wood's ferocious pace and hard lengths. At the other, there was Ravi Bishnoi's wrong'uns. Another tightrope of a finish loomed, and Shahrukh held on to finish unbeaten on 23 off 10 balls to seal victory with three balls to spare.
For Kings, the victory was particularly heartening because they were without their regular captain Shikhar Dhawan, who missed the game with a shoulder niggle. There was also the matter of trying to arrest a slide of two consecutive defeats, which they did to rise to No. 4 in the points table.
Lucknow Super Giants will look back on the last five overs of their batting innings, where they lost 4 for 48 after KL Rahul had played anchor once again with 74 off 56 balls.
Kyle Mayers gives LSG a start
On a surface that had a smattering of grass amid barren patches, the ball was doing all sorts of things. Offspinner Matt Short got it to turn, Arshdeep Singh was able to zip it through, and Kagiso Rabada rapped Rahul with a lifter from a length.
Kyle Mayers wasn't too fussed and threw his bat at anything in his zone. If the ball was drifting onto his pads, he swung hard. If there was room, he fearlessly lofted through the line. If it was bowled into the pitch, he flat batted it. But his daredevilry didn't last long as he picked out deep square leg when he could have hit Harpreet Brar's half-tracker wherever he liked on the leg side. Kings had broken LSG's flourishing half-century opening stand in the eighth over.
Rahul drops anchor
In the next over, Raza had Deepak Hooda lbw with a skiddy delivery, but Rahul fed off Krunal Pandya to keep the innings ticking in third gear. His knock had its moments - like the outrageous loft to the cover boundary off Kagiso Rabada - but his mellowed-down tempo during his half-century meant that LSG were always searching for acceleration.
Captain Curran delivers at the death
LSG lost their way when Kagiso Rabada struck twice in the 15th over. He first had Krunal caught at deep midwicket and then, after a failed caught-behind appeal that was called wide down the leg side, he had Nicholas Pooran out first ball, pulling to deep midwicket.
Sam Curran, who was leading the Kings in Dhawan's absence, then picked up the huge wicket of Marcus Stoinis, convinced the batter had gloved a glance to the keeper and successfully overturning the on-field decision. Curran bowled his cutters into the pitch effectively and picked up two more wickets in the final over to finish with figures of 3 for 31.
Yudhvir's dream start
Yudhvir Singh made a special debut for LSG. In his first over, he dismissed fellow debutant Atharva Taide, and then flattened Prabhsimran Singh's off stump with a rocket of a nipbacker in his second over. Matt Short, however, put Punjab's chase back on track with a counterattack.
He found support in Harpreet Singh, who was playing his first IPL game in nearly 11 years. Harpreet played the anchor's role until it got to a point where he had to attack. And after a few missed attempts, he picked out deep square for a run-a-ball 22. At 75 for 4, Kings weren't out of trouble yet.
Raza to the rescue
After playing himself in and scoring his first 20 at nearly a run a ball, Raza went after Krunal, taking 17 off the 13th over to reduce the equation to 61 off 42 balls.
Rahul held back his legspinner Ravi Bishnoi until the 15th over, which meant that he would not be able to complete his full quota of four overs. He struck with his third ball to dismiss Sam Curran. Now, it was down to Raza, and he brought up his maiden IPL half-century off 34 balls. But there was another twist when Rahul pulled off a diving catch to his left at mid-off to dismiss Jitesh Sharma, and Raza also picked out Stoinis at deep backward square leg soon after.
Shahrukh takes on Wood
With 38 runs needed off 25 balls, Shahrukh smashed his first delivery - off Wood no less - over the long-on boundary. And then, with 18 to get off 11, he went hard at Wood again. This time the top edge flew off the attempted pull and cleared the boundary behind the wicketkeeper At the start of the final over, Punjab needed only seven runs, and Shahrukh muscled Bishnoi to the wide long-off boundary to spark off celebrations in his dugout.
