Kolkata, The 44th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 between Punjab Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was called off due to heavy storm and rain. On Saturday, Punjab Kings batted first and scored 201 for four at the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata, thanks to half-centuries by Prabhsimran Singh (83) and Priyansh Arya (69) and a 120-run partnership in 72 balls for the first wicket between the two.

The Punjab team was moving towards a big score after scoring 158 for one after the 14th over, but the KKR bowlers stopped them at 201 by taking three wickets for just 43 runs in the last six overs. Chasing the target, KKR had scored seven runs without any loss in one over, when suddenly rain started with a strong storm at around 9.35 pm.

The storm was so strong that the ground staff had to struggle a lot to cover the ground with covers. Due to the strong wind, some covers were torn and some flew towards the boundary and the spectators' gallery.

Due to continuous rain, there was no scope for the match to start and after waiting for about 90 minutes, when there was no improvement in the weather, the match was officially called off at 10.58 pm. With the match being called off, both the teams shared one point each. Kolkata Knight Riders now have seven points from nine matches and are in seventh place, while Punjab Kings have reached the fourth position with 11 points from nine matches.

Earlier, Prabhsimran hit six sixes and as many fours in a 49-ball innings, while Priyansh, who scored his first century against Chennai Super Kings, hit eight fours and four sixes in a 35-ball innings. Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and decided to bat and the pair of Prabhsimran and Priyansh proved him right.

While Priyansh adopted an aggressive approach in the initial overs, Prabhsimran scored runs quickly after his dismissal. Prabhsimran was once playing at 32 runs in 34 balls but he added 49 runs in the next 17 balls.

However, after Prabhsimran's dismissal, Punjab batsmen struggled to score runs quickly. Captain Shreyas Iyer contributed unbeaten 25 runs in 16 balls and Josh Inglis contributed unbeaten 11 runs in six balls. For KKR, Vaibhav Arora took two wickets for 34 runs. Andre Russell, who broke the first wicket partnership by dismissing Priyansh, took a wicket at 27 runs.

Varun Chakraborty (one wicket for 39 runs) and Sunil Narayan (35 runs without any success) also bowled tight in the last overs and prevented Punjab from scoring a big score.

Prabhsimran had earlier scored 19 runs from the over by hitting a four, a six and a four against Chakraborty. When the batsmen of Punjab Kings scored 71 runs between the 10th and 15th overs, it seemed that the team would easily reach close to 230 runs.

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In the initial overs, the ball was coming on the bat at the right pace and 23-year-old Arya took advantage of it with brilliant strokes. After hitting a four on a delightful cover drive off Arora's ball, he hit a brilliant six off Harshit Rana's wide yorker.

Priyansh batted maturely and dominated the innings by scoring runs quickly without taking any risks. Prabhsimran recovered from a slow start and showed aggressive attitude and took the team past 150 runs in the 14th over.

KKR included Chetan Sakaria in the starting eleven to strengthen their bowling but the left-arm bowler gave away 39 runs in his three overs without any success.