{"id":590104,"date":"2026-04-06T23:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/590104\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T23:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T23:41:09","slug":"bartlett-strikes-twice-before-rains-sends-punjab-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/590104\/","title":{"rendered":"Bartlett strikes twice before rains sends Punjab top"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"w-article__summary\">Punjab Kings reclaimed top spot in the IPL after a washout against Kolkata Knight Riders<\/p>\n<p>Australian pace bowler Xavier Bartlett was looking in top form as Punjab Kings reclaimed top position in the Indian Premier League after a washout result against Kolkata Knight Riders.<\/p>\n<p>The Knight Riders, who had suffered back-to-back defeats in their opening two fixtures of the campaign, reached 2-25 in 3.4 overs before heavy rain arrived at Eden Gardens.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But by then Punjab quick Bartlett had already found the outside edges of Finn Allen and then Aussie compatriot Cameron Green in the space of three balls in a devastating first over.<\/p>\n<p>Allrounder Green, who broke Mitchell Starc&#8217;s record to become the most expensive overseas player at an IPL auction, was looking to find his groove after missing out in first two IPL games of the season &#8211; 18 against Mumbai Indians and two against Sunrisers Hyderabad &#8211; after a year off from the competition.<\/p>\n<p>But he edged a lively out-swinger from Bartlett for an caught-behind on four before drizzle, then a sustained downpour, meant it was not possible to resume play before the game was eventually called off after a delay.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Monday&#8217;s no result, Punjab top the table as the only team with five points, having previously banked wins over Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, third-placed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cricket.com.au\/matches\/CA:40101\/rajasthan-royals-mumbai-indians-ipl-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rajasthan Royals host Mumbai Indians<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>IPL 2026 standings<\/p>\n<p>                                Legend<\/p>\n<p class=\"o-table__legend-value o-table__legend-value--mobile-priority\">M: Matches played<\/p>\n<p class=\"o-table__legend-value o-table__legend-value--mobile-priority\">W: Wins<\/p>\n<p class=\"o-table__legend-value \">L: Losses<\/p>\n<p class=\"o-table__legend-value \">T: Ties<\/p>\n<p class=\"o-table__legend-value \">N\/R: No results<\/p>\n<p class=\"o-table__legend-value o-table__legend-value--mobile-priority\">NRR: Net Run Rate<\/p>\n<p class=\"o-table__legend-value \">Ded.: Deductions<\/p>\n<p class=\"o-table__legend-value o-table__legend-value--mobile-priority\">PTS: Total points<\/p>\n<p>Australians in IPL 2026<\/p>\n<p>Chennai Super Kings: Matt Short ($255k), Spencer Johnson ($255k, replaces Nathan Ellis ($340k))<\/p>\n<p>Delhi Capitals: Mitchell Starc ($2m)<\/p>\n<p>Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood ($2.13m), Tim David ($510k)<\/p>\n<p>Punjab Kings: Marcus Stoinis ($1.9m), Ben Dwarshuis ($745k), Mitchell Owen ($510k), Cooper Connolly ($510k), Xavier Bartlett ($136k)<\/p>\n<p>Kolkata Knight Riders: Cameron Green ($3.5m)<\/p>\n<p>Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins ($3.5m), Travis Head ($2.38m), Jack Edwards ($510k, withdrawn)<\/p>\n<p>Lucknow Super Giants: Josh Inglis ($1.49m), Mitchell Marsh ($578k)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Punjab Kings reclaimed top spot in the IPL after a washout against Kolkata Knight Riders Australian pace bowler&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85,83],"class_list":{"0":"post-590104","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-text"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}