Kings XI Punjab's bowlers were utterly dominant on Thursday, January 14 in the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as most of them picked up wickets by the bunch. In the afternoon game, Punjab bowlers Harpreet Brar and Arshdeep Singh picked up four and three wickets respectively, as their team completely derailed Railways. In a later game, Ishan Porel proved to be too good for Hyderabad batsmen, registering figures of 4/24 to continue his good form in the competition.

Punjab batted first in their game against Railways, and put up a strong total of 200/4. Abhishek Sharma got a century, with his opening partner Prabhsimran Singh also getting a big score. The 22-year-old scored 63 at a brisk pace, smashing two fours and six sixes in that innings. This was the wicketkeeper-batsman's second consecutive fifty in the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, following up from the previous game where he got an unbeaten 92.

With the ball, Punjab made light work of the Services batsmen, as the KXIP duo of Harpreet Brar and Arshdeep Singh picked up seven of the ten wickets to give their side a convincing win. Brar accounted for opposition captain Dinesh Mor, as well as top-order players Shivam Chaudhary, Navneet Virk and Vineet Dhaka. The 25-year-old ended with figures of 4/22, capping off a fine evening with the ball.

Arshdeep too bowled brilliantly to account for the wickets of opener Pratham Singh and lower-order players Harsh Tyagi and Dhrushant Soni. The left-arm pacer ended with figures of 3/16 as Punjab claimed a whopping 116 run victory.

In the evening game of the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy played at the iconic Eden Gardens, another KXIP bowler stole the show as Kolkata cruised to a six-wicket win over Hyderabad. Ishan Porel carried on from where he had left off to claim a second four-wicket haul in the competition. The pacer picked the wickets of keeper Pragnay Reddy in his very first over. The former U19 World Cup winner then returned in a later spell to clean out the Hyderabad tail, picking up Tanay Thyagarajan, Chama Milind and Yudhvir Singh. Porel ended with figures of 4/24, and now has 11 wickets in the competition.

In the earlier game at the Eden Gardens, another Kings XI Punjab player proved to be the hero with the ball. Murugan Ashwin picked up three wickets for Tamil Nadu in their game against Odisha. The leg spinner ended with figures of 3/16 as Tamil Nadu picked up a convincing nine-wicket victory.