New Delhi: All the excitement surrounding the virtual eliminator between Kings XI and Pune before the actual one went up in smoke as soon as the first ball was bowled in Pune.
Pune bowlers steamrolled the attacking Punjab batting line up and bowled them out for their lowest ever IPL total of 73.
Steve Smith decided to put the opposition in, in a knock out encounter but even he would not have imagined such a dominating performance from his bowlers on a placid batting track.
It was Unadkat all the way for Pune. He got Guptill’s wicket on the very first ball of the match, inflicted a direct hit to spell doom for Morgan and finally took a tumbling catch at short fine leg to see the back of Tewatia.
None of Kings XI batters could stem the flow of wickets. Shardul Thakur picked up 3 wickets for 19 runs. He also got the opposition captain Maxwell for a duck.
Only 4 of the Punjab players reached the double figures. They had lost half their side for just 31 on board. It was Axar Patel’s 22 down the order that save them from further embarrassment.
Surprisingly it was Ben Stokes who went wicket-less. Apart from him all the Pune bowlers were on song. Unadkat, Zampa, Christian all picked up 2 wickets a piece.