In the 66th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by four wickets at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala.
RR won the toss and elected to ball first. The champions of the first-ever IPL season did a commendable job with the ball as they managed to restrict PBKS to a respectable total. The pacers Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult were phenomenon as they picked wickets and also bowled economical spells.
In the chase, in form batter Jos Buttler got out in the second over itself. His opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal (50), however, smashed a decent half century which helped RR to get a better start. The southpaw batter hit eight fours in his inning which showed great intent as the batter was unable to score any runs in the last match. Devdutt Padikkal (51) was the other left-handed batter to score a fifty. Padikkal scored a quickfire fifty which consisted of five fours and three sixes. After strings of low scoring overs towards the end, it was Shimron Hetmyer (46) and Riyan Parag (20) who brought back RR in the game. In the end, impact player Dhruv Jurel (10) smashed nine runs in the final over to take RR home.
With the bat in the first innings, only Sam Curran (49), Jitesh Sharma (44) and Shahrukh Khan (41) took responsibility and were able to score some runs to take PBKS to a decent total at the Dharamshala Stadium.
Navdeep Saini was exceptional tonight as he claimed three wickets. Along with him, one wicket was also plucked by Adam Zampa and Trent Boult.
For PBKS, Kagiso Rabada picked up two wickets while one wicket each was taken by Sam Curran, Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis and Rahul Chahar.
Following this win, RR now have 14 points and are positioned fifth on the table.
Scorecard:
Punjab Kings: 187/5, Overs 20, Sam Curran 49*, Navdeep Saini 3/40
Rajasthan Royals: 189/6, Overs 19.4, Devdutt Padikkal 51, Kagiso Rabada 2/40