Jonny Bairstow’s century helped Punjab Kings create history at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday as they chased down the highest total ever by an IPL side in the history of the competition against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Set to chase a total of 262 runs, Punjab Kings reached 262/2 in 18.4 overs, due of an unbeaten century from Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow hit an unbeaten knock of 108* runs off 48 balls. He was well supported by Shashank Singh (68*) who hit an unbeaten half-century. Prabhsimran Singh (54) also hit a half-century for Punjab Kings and Rilee Rossouw fell to Sunil Narine scoring 26 runs off 16 balls.

Punjab Kings captain Sam Curran initially won the toss and decided to bowl first. Ramandeep Singh remained unbeaten for Kolkata Knight Riders as Rinku Singh (5) and Venkatesh Iyer (39) lost their wickets in the final over to Harshal Patel. Earlier, Phil Salt hit a half-century along with his opening partner Sunil Narine also doing the same.

Narine hit 71 runs off 32 deliveries and lost his wicket to Rahul Chahar. Meanwhile, Salt departed after hitting 75 runs off 37 deliveries and ultimately lost his wicket to Sam Curran. Arshdeep Singh dismissed Shreyas Iyer (28) and Andre Russell (24) as Kolkata Knight Riders posted 261/6 in 20 overs. But the night belonged to Punjab Kings, who dominated the game in the 2nd innings and eventually sealed an 8-wicket victory.

A total of 523 runs were scored during the match and an all time IPL record of 42 sixes were also hit by the both teams. Both the record chases now have come against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a space of 10 days and at the same venue of Eden Gardens. It was on April 16, Kolkata Knight Riders had failed to defend 223/6 with Jos Buttler hitting a 55-ball ton to pull off the record breaking run chase.

Ahead of their upcoming IPL matches, Sunrisers Hyderabad team received a delightful surprise in the form of a meeting with Tollywood superstar Mahesh Babu. The actor had a special photoshoot with the SRH players in Hyderabad, pictures of which are now going viral across social media platforms. Mahesh Babu after rubbing shoulders with SRH captain Pat Cummins also shared a pose with other key players.

Mahesh Babu’s latest photos have got the attention of Mahesh Babu and Sun Risers Hyderabad fans. Mahesh Babu took to his Instagram handle and shared a couple of pictures from the photoshoot. In the 1st photo Mahesh Babu is seen posing with Pat Cummins, the 2nd picture is a group picture with all the players including Nitish Reddy, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi and Abhishek Sharma.

Pat Cummins commented on the post and wrote that it was great to meet him (Mahesh Babu) and he needed to get him out on a game soon. Mahesh Babu’s wife Namrata Shirodkar also expressed her excitement on seeing the viral post of her husband with the SRH captain. One SRH fan said this is one collaboration which he did not expect. One Mahesh Babu fan was stunned on seeing the viral post.

Mahesh Babu expressed his excitement on having the opportunity to meet SunRisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins, and posted that it is an absolute honour to meet him @patcummins30!  He said he is a big fan. Mahesh Babu wished him and the SRH team all the best for the future.

Later the pictures were also shared by the official Instagram handle of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The post showed the Tollywood superstar posing individually with all the players. The post was captioned SunRisers, Superstar of Telugu cinema, Mahesh Babu. Pat Cummins also shared the picture on his Instagram handle calling Mahesh Babu the Prince of Tollywood.

Legendary South African batsman AB de Villiers, who also played for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from 2011-21, shared his views on the departure of Yuzvendra Chahal from Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2021. He said it was a heartbreaking moment for him.

Chahal has been playing for Rajasthan Royals (RR) since 2022. He recently became the 1st bowler to take 200 IPL wickets against Mumbai Indians on Monday. He played for Mumbai Indians (2011-13), and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) (2014-21) before he joined Rajasthan Royals in 2022.

AB De Villiers criticised the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s decision to release Yuzvendra Chahal. He also talked about the time when Chahal was bought by the Rajasthan Royals during the IPL auction, leaving the RCB after playing 8 seasons for them.

AB De Villiers said RCB let Yuzvendra Chahal go. He termed it as a heartbreaking moment. De Villiers said Chahal had become very close to the the team and it seemed he was a part of the furniture there and was also their best bowler. De Villiers said it was crazy that he got left out of RCB. He said it is not easy looking at Yuzi go take 200 wickets in IPL and him not being a part of the franchise. The South African cricketer added it was a tough moment for him as he had forged a close bond with Chahal.

Yuzvendra Chahal has played 113 matches for the Royal Challengers Bangalore from 2014 to 2021 and taken 139 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.58. Now for the Rajasthan Royals, he has taken 61 wickets in 39 matches. Chahal has played 153 total matches in IPL and has picked up 200 wickets at an average of 21.37, with his best figures being 5/40. He has taken 6 four-wicket hauls and a 5-wicket haul during his IPL career.