It’s not often that a total of 261 is made to look pedestrian but it has been, by the Punjab Kings as Jonny Bairstow, Shashank Singh and Prabhsimran Singh tore apart the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) attack to pull off the highest ever successful chase in T20 history on Friday, April 16 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. 262/2 was made in 18.4 overs like it was a walk in the park. If ever there was a statement game or a batting effort to show how far T20 cricket has come, this was it, and a half.

It was a monstrosity of another level when if you think about it, looked like that they would have made 300 if they had played all their overs. Who Varun Chakravarthy, who Dushmantha Chameera? What is pressure? This was a herculean effort made to look like it’s an everyday job like it’s routine. First, the Punjab Kings bowlers suffered and then it was time for the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers to be on the receiving end as small boundaries, fast outfield, unending batting line-ups and absolute road-like surfaces have made 250 a daily occurrence.

More to follow…