New Chandigarh: Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer told his troops to stay humble after their historic 16-run win against Kolkata Knight Riders at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium here.
Opting to bat first, Punjab's batting debacle bundled them to 111 in 15.3 overs as Harshit Rana snared three scalps while Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine bagged two wickets apiece.
In reply, Yuzvendra Chahal returned with career-best tournament figures of 4-28 while pacer Marco Jansen picked three scalps to script a thrilling win for the home side. It was the lowest successfully defended total in IPL's history.
"It is hard to express in words. I was just backing my instincts. I saw the ball turn a bit, and asked Yuzi to control his breathing a bit. We needed to be attacking and the right players were in the right places. It is tough to talk right now and such wins make it special," Iyer said in the post-match presentation.
"I personally felt, when I went out to bat, I faced two balls - one stayed low and one hit the bottom of the bat, people were finding it difficult to sweep. There was variable bounce in the wicket, we got a decent total to be honest, looking at the win of 16 runs. The bounce was not consistent. We had this at the back of our mind and we asked the bowlers to keep this in mind. And they executed it,” Iyer added.
With eight points in six matches, Punjab Kings have moved to the fourth spot while KKR are reeling at sixth place with six points in seven games.
