Punjab had made a stormy start
Half-centuries from openers Captain Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran Singh took Punjab Kings to a big score. Apart from scoring an unbeaten 86 off 56 balls with nine fours and three sixes, Dhawan put on 90 for the first wicket with Prabhasimran (60 off 34 balls, seven fours, three sixes) and with Jitesh Sharma (27) for the second. Also shared a 66-run partnership for. Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and decided to bowl first.
Prabhsimran showed his mettle with a six off KM Asif in the second over of the innings and then added 19 runs in the pacer’s next over with three fours and a six. Dhawan also hit Trent Boult for two consecutive fours. Prabhasimran hit Ashwin for two consecutive fours to take the team’s score past 50 runs in the fifth over. Punjab scored 63 runs in the powerplay without losing a wicket. Prabhsimran completed the first IPL half-century in just 28 balls with two runs off Yuzvendra Chahal. Prabhasimran hit another six on Boult but was caught by Jos Buttler off Holder’s ball.
Bhanuka injured by Dhawan’s short
Bhanuka Rajapakse retired hurt after scoring just one run when Dhawan’s shot hit his right hand. Jitesh Sharma hit Chahal for two fours to complete his team’s century in the 12th over, while in the same over, Dhawan also brought the ball to the visitors. Dhawan hit Chahal for two consecutive fours to bring up his 48th IPL half-century in 36 balls. He has 50 scores of more than 50 runs in IPL. He is only the third player after David Warner and Virat Kohli to achieve this feat.
Jitesh, however, caught Riyan Parag at the boundary in an attempt to play a big shot off Chahal. Chahal also became the second most successful bowler in the IPL after Dwayne Bravo. Ashwin then bowled Sikandar Raza (01) but Dhawan played some good shots in the last over. Jason Holder took 2 for Rajasthan while Chahal and Ashwin took 1-1 wickets.
Stormy batting of Hetmyer and Jurel
In response, Rajasthan Royals lost wickets continuously. Ashwin, who came to the opener in place of Jos Buttler, could not even open the account. Yashasvi 11 and Jose Butler, who hit a six on the first ball of the innings, were dismissed for 19 runs. Sanju Samson scored 42 off 25 balls while Riyan Parag scored 20 off 12 balls. But Devdutt Padikkal struggled on the pitch. He faced 26 balls to score 21 runs.
In the last 4 overs, Rajasthan needed 69 runs to win. Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer were at the crease. Both scored 16 in the 17th over, 19 in the 18th over and 18 in the 19th over. He had to score 19 runs in the last over against Sam Karen. But in front of accurate bowling, Rajasthan could score only 10 runs. Punjab won the match by 5 runs. Nathan Ellis took the wickets of Butler, Samson, Riyan Parag and Padikkal for 30 runs.