In what was a low-scoring thriller, Rajasthan Royals (RR) got the better of Punjab Kings (PBKS) as they defeated the hosts by 3 wickets in the 27th match of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Saturday, 13 April.
Chasing a meagre target of 148 runs, Shimron Hetmyer powered the visitors with his 10-ball 27 to clinch RR's fifth win of the season in 19.5 overs.
Decent Start For RR
Rajasthan’s chase started on a decent note, with openers Tanush Kotian and Yashasvi Jaiswal forming a solid partnership of 56 runs off 50 deliveries. However, their momentum was disrupted as Liam Livingstone dismissed Kotian for 24 runs off 31 balls.
Subsequently, captain Samson joined Jaiswal in the middle and the duo forged RR's second partnership, contributing 26 runs off 20 balls before Kagiso Rabada claimed Jaiswal's wicket in the 12th over. Harshal Patel, stationed at third man, took the catch to conclude Jaiswal's innings at 39 runs off 28 balls.
RR encountered another setback when skipper Samson fell victim to a Sam Curran delivery in the 14th over, dismissed via LBW after adding 18 runs off 14 balls to RR's total.
Eventful 17th Over
With 49 runs required from the final 30 deliveries, the responsibility rested on the shoulders of wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag. Parag was given a lifeline on the fourth delivery of the 16th over as Liam Livingstone dropped him, only to be dismissed by Arshdeep Singh in the next over, with Rabada completing the dismissal by securing the catch. Parag departed the field having contributed 23 runs from 18 deliveries.
As the pressure mounted with 35 runs required off just 20 balls, Shimron Hetmyer entered the fray, narrowly escaping a dismissal following a caught-behind review. However, in the 18th over, his partnership with Jurel was broken as Shashank Singh held onto a catch off a delivery from Harshal Patel, ending Jurel's innings at just 6 runs (off 11 balls)
Hetmyer slammed a boundary on the penultimate ball of the 18th over and followed it up with a maximum. Powell kicked off the next over with two consecutive boundaries. However, his aggressive stint was short-lived as Sam Curran dismissed him on the very next delivery after Powell had accumulated 11 runs from just 5 balls. Two balls later, Curran claimed his second wicket by dismissing Keshav Maharaj.
However, RR had the last laugh as Hetmyer slammed a maximum to seal a 3-wicket win for the visitors. The West Indies batter remained unbeaten at 27.
What Happened in the First Innings?
Earlier, Ashutosh Sharma gave yet another exhibition of his incredible ball-striking ability in the death overs by making a 16-ball 31 to propel Punjab Kings to a respectable 147/8.
On a pitch that seemed a little tricky to bat, PBKS suffered a top-order meltdown as RR nailed the length and pace of deliveries very well and forced them to play poor shots, leading to their downfall.
After Jitesh Sharma made 29, Ashutosh brought some late fireworks for PBKS to amass 61 runs in the last five overs. For RR, Keshav Maharaj took 2-23 in an impressive middle-overs spell while Avesh Khan also had two scalps to his name. Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult and Kuldeep Sen took a wicket each in a disciplined bowling performance for RR.
A Struggling Powerplay
Pushed into batting first, PBKS suffered their first blow when Atharva Taide top-edged a pull off Avesh and with both Kuldeep taking his catch.
The rest of Power-play was a struggle for PBKS as runs were hard to come by and they ended the phase at 38/1. Prabhsimran Singh tried to go big against Chahal but didn’t have any timing on the loft and holed out to long-on. Jonny Bairstow tried to slap a delivery from Keshav Maharaj over the off-side, but spooned a simple catch to cover, giving the left-arm spinner his first IPL wicket. Trouble continued for PBKS as stand-in captain Sam Curran dragged a pull straight to mid-wicket off Maharaj.
Jitesh finally got PBKS’ first boundary in the middle overs by dancing down the pitch to hammer a four over Maharaj’s head while Shashank Singh drove the spinner for another boundary. But Kuldeep had Shashank miscuing a pull to deep square leg, giving Dhruv Jurel his third catch of the match. Jitesh injected some momentum in PBKS’ innings by lofting Chahal over extra cover for six and crunching Kuldeep for a loft down the ground to pick another maximum.
Ashutosh's Finishing Touches
But in a bid to go over mid-off, Jitesh miscued the shot and gave a catch to the fielder off Avesh. Livingstone wanted to go for a second run, but Impact Player Ashutosh sent him back. By then, though, Samson had collected the under-arm throw from debutant Tanush Kotian and effected the run-out of Livingstone.
Ashutosh provided finishing touches by smashing three brutal sixes before a top-edge on the pull caught by backward point led to his dismissal on the last ball of the PBKS’ stop-start innings.
With inputs from IANS.
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