In the eight match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Punjab Kings (PBKS) defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bowl first. The Punjab-based team got off to an humongous start as both their openers, Prabhsimran Singh (60) and Shikhar Dhawan (86*), smashed excellent half centuries. While Prabhsimran was efficient in the powerplay, captain Dhawan was playing more of an anchors role in which towards the latter part of the game, he changed gears. Talking about their boundary count, the right-handed batter hammered seven fours and three sixes and on the other hand Dhawan hit nine fours and equal number of sixes. Towards the end, Jitesh Sharma (27) and Shahrukh Khan (11) also contributed few runs which took PBKS to a massive score of 197/4 in 20 overs.
In the chase, almost all the batters got off to a good start but failed to capitalised on it. Jos Buttler (19), Sanju Samson (42) and Riyan Parag (20), along with Shimron Hetmyer (36) were striking the ball well and good into the stands but was the matter of staying on to the crease which none of the batters couldn’t. Impact player Dhruv Jurel (32*) was looking all set to take the game home but eventually failed in the final over against Sam Curran. RR only could get to 192 runs in their 20 overs.
While defending in the second innings, Nathan Ellis scalped four wicket and just conceded 20 runs. Furthermore, Arshdeep Singh also grabbed two wickets.
Jason Holder picked two wickets in the first innings. One wicket each was also grabbed by Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
Nathan Ellis was awarded with the Man of the Match for his amazing bowling show. With this win, Punjab Kings have registered two consecutive wins and are now second in the points table.
Scorecard:
Punjab Kings: 197/4, Overs 20, Shikhar Dhawan 86*, Jason Holder 2/29
Rajasthan Royals: 192/7, Overs 20, Sanju Samson 42, Nathan Ellis 4/20