Kolkata chuva derrama em Priyansh Arya e Prabhsimran Singh Masterclass

Rain prevails in Kolkata. The weather gods have forced the 44th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 to be called off. All seemed well until 9:35 PM in Kolkata, but then all of a sudden, rain arrived. 21 overs had been delivered already. Punjab Kings (PBKS) had scored 202 runs on a tough pitch against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), courtesy of exceptional knocks by Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh.

KKR vs PBKS match, called off due to rain

Rain wasn’t expected to be a factor. The forecast during the match hours didn’t show signs of a potential disruption due to the weather. Moments after the second innings started, the weather changed. Rain was pelting down, heavy winds were blowing and even a sandstorm arrived out of nowhere.

You just knew from the start that the match would have to be called off. But the ground staff at the Eden Gardens gave it their all. They covered the entire pitch, but the weather wasn’t relenting. So after one and a half hours of delay, the match officials called the game off.

The Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh show

But before the rain arrived, it was the Prabhsimran and Priyansh show. The openers stitched a 120-run stand for the first wickets. On a pitch that was slow, with the ball sticking in the pitch from cutters and slower ones applied, they scored over 10 runs per over.

The game was heavily tilted in PBKS’ favour by the time Priyansh departed for 69 (35). Prabhsimran hadn’t raced off the blocks, and it was the southpaw who went PBKS ahead until the 12th over. He had already become the first batter from his team to score 300 runs in the IPL 2025 when he was caught.

Then Prabhsimran took over. The wicketkeeper batter was 48 (37) when Priyansh went back to the dugout. He faced 12 more deliveries after that and scored 35 runs. That’s nearly 3 runs per ball. Prabhsimran also became the first uncapped PBKS batter to score 1000 runs. Combined, the duo scored 152 runs in 14 overs. The rest of the PBKS batters hit just 49 runs from 6 overs.

Had they not fired, PBKS wouldn’t have crossed the 200-run mark on a pitch where 170-180 was the par score. Had rain not arrived, there was a strong chance that PBKS would have beaten KKR with ease. One saw that because the home team wasn’t able to chase 199 against Gujarat Titans and lost by 39 runs.