IPL 2023: Sam Curran and Harpreet Bhatia score second-highest fifth-wicket partnership for PBKS

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 22 : Punjab Kings skipper Sam Curran and Harpreet Bhatia played a crucial partnership and became the second-highest fifth-wicket partnerships for PBKS against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
With a 92-run partnership between Sam Curran & Harpreet Bhatia, the duo became the second-highest fifth-wicket partnership for PBKS. The first position is still held by the 130* run partnership between David Miller & Rajagopal Sathish against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mohali, 2013.
The third place belongs to the 79* run partnership between Glenn Maxwell and David Miller vs Rising Pune Supergiants in 2017. While the fourth place is held by the 75-run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara & Irfan Pathan vs RR, Cape Town, 2009.
The partnership between Curran and Bhatia came at a crucial time even though PBKS got to a flying start even though they lost the wicket of Matthew Short (11) quite early in the innings. The talented duo of Indian youngsters Prabhsimran Singh and Atharva Taide played some beautiful shots that kept the PBKs scoreboard ticking. PBKS crossed the 50-run mark in 5.3 overs. At the end of six overs, PBKS end the powerplay at 58/1 with Prabhsimran Singh (25*) and Atharva Taide (19*) unbeaten.
PBKS managed to put up a score of 83/4 in 10 overs, with Sam Curran (0*) and Harpreet Singh Bhatia (1*) unbeaten on the crease.
Sam Curran and Harpreet started to set up a counterattack as PBKS slowly crossed the 100-run mark in 13.4 overs.
Curran and Harpreet picked the youngster Arjun Tendulkar as their target in the 16th over. Arjun conceded six boundaries in his over and he ended up conceding 31 runs which allowed PBKS to set their eyes on 200 plus total. Both batters displayed confidence in their batting and MI bowlers started to leak runs all over the field. This over became the turning point of the entire match.
Cameron Green came into the attack after to control the damage which was caused in the last two overs. The Australian all-rounder was successful in breaking up the partnership as Harpreet tried to rotate the strike, but the ball ended up crashing into the stumps.
It seemed as if MI could keep PBKS from crossing the 200-run mark but Jitesh Sharma struck two consecutive sixes to put PBKS right on track. Sam Curran's mesmerising knock came to an end as he became Jofra Archer's first wicket in MI colours for a score of 55(29). However, Jitesh Sharma struck two sixes in three balls to put Jason Behrendorff under pressure. The Australian came back on th every next ball as Jitesh stepped out to play a shot on the offside, however, he ended up missing the ball completely, and the ball ended up clipping the bails off the stumps. Jitesh's came to an end with a score of 25(7).
Harpreet Brar came on to face the final two balls of the first innings. He struck a four on the first ball, but lost his wicket following a run out on the final ball of the 20th over.
PBKS ended the first innings with a score of 214/8 in 20 overs.