‘I grabbed Chahal out of warm-up, looked him in the eye and...’: Ponting’s big revelation after Yuzi's KKR stunner

Shreyas Iyer and Punjab Kings pulled a rabbit out of the hat as the side defended the lowest-ever total in the Indian Premier League's (IPL) history to defeat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 16 runs in New Chandigarh on Tuesday. No one gave Punjab Kings a chance after they were bundled out for 111, but the hosts came back from behind to register one of the most famous wins in the tournament's history. Yuzvendra Chahal was the standout performer as he returned with four wickets.

After the win against defending champions KKR, Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting revealed Chahal was not fully fit heading into the contest as he suffered a shoulder injury in the previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Ponting then spoke about his chat with the leg-spinner during the warm-ups and how Chahal's confidence startled him.

"What about Chahal tonight? How good a spell of bowling was that! He actually had a fitness test before the game today with his shoulder injury he picked up in the last game, and I grabbed him out of the warm-up, looked him in the eye, and said, 'Mate, are you okay?' He said coach I am 100 percent right, let me out there," Ponting told the host broadcaster.

Against KKR, Chahal was introduced into the attack in the seventh over of the innings, with KKR going strong at 62/2. However, the 34-year-old struck immediately to dismiss KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane. He then dismissed Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, and Ramandeep Singh to put the match in the Punjab Kings' favour.

It must be mentioned that heading into the contest against KKR, Chahal looked completely out of rhythm, and wickets were hard to come by. He was also called out by former India cricketers Wasim Jaffer and Piyush Chawla for bowling too defensively.

‘Best win I have had in the IPL’

After Marco Jansen took the final wicket of Andre Russell, Ricky Ponting could not control his emotions in the dugout. He was seen entirely pumped up, celebrating with the rest of the support staff and squad.

In the contest against KKR, PBKS captain Shreyas won the toss and opted to bat. However, the side was bundled out for 111 as Harshit Rana took three wickets.

Ponting termed this win the best he has ever had as a coach in the IPL.

"The heart rate is still up there. I'm 50 years now and don't need more game like these. Defending 112, with 16 runs up our sleeves. We actually said to the guys at the halfway mark that these really small chases , like these, are sometimes the hardest. The wicket wasn't easy, as you can see that right through the game, it was definitely holding up," said Ponting.

"I reckon at the halfway mark there weren't too many people around the world that thought that we could have defended it and we have, credit to all the boys. They were terrific tonight. Wins like these are always the sweetest one, and if you can pull this off, then you should be as good as win as most guys been involved in and I have coached a lot of games in the IPL and that might just be about the best win I ever had," he added.