For the fourth time in history, Punjab Kings won both their opening games in an IPL season as they secured back-to-back victories on the road in the 18th edition of the league.

After beating Gujarat Titans in a high-scoring thriller last month, they conquered Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday with an emphatic eight-wicket win as they soared to the second spot in the points table.

After Tuesday's match at the Ekana Stadium, LSG owner Sanjiv Goenka walked up to PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer, who scored a match-winning fifty and hugged him before holding a lengthy chat. The sight sparked fear among fans on social media, with few feeling Goenka might be trying to convince Iyer to snub Punjab and join Lucknow.

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In the battle of the two record signings in IPL history, Pant, who was roped in for INR 27 crore at the auction last year, 25 lakhs more than Iyer, ended up on the losing side. This was LSG's second loss in three matches since the start of the season. He also incurred another flop show with the bat, getting dismissed for just two runs off five runs. He has so far managed just 17 runs off 26 balls in three innings.

After a chat with Iyer, Goenka got hold of Pant and had an animated discussion, much like after the first game where Lucknow had lost a last-over drama against Delhi Capitals, leaving fans fearing a repeat of a KL Rahul incident.

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'Still assessing the home conditions...'

Pant reckoned Lucknow were at least 25 runs short after Punjab chased down the target of 172 with 22 balls to spare and rued the fall of early wickets denied them a bigger total.

"It (the total) wasn't enough, we were 20-25 runs short, but that's part and parcel of the game. Still assessing the conditions at our home ground. It's always going to be difficult to get a big total when you lose early wickets, but each and every player is trying hard to take the game forward. The idea was to get a slow wicket. I think the slower balls were sticking in. We got to learn from this game and move forward. There are a lot of positives, can't say much," he said in the post-match presentation.