Riyan Parag plays a shot against Punjab Kings (Photo: Sportzpics)
Young all-rounder Riyan Parag has made a special request to RR over Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad to qualify for the playoffs.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat Punjab Kings by 4 wickets on Friday night in Dharamsala to breathe life into themselves in the race for the IPL 2023 playoffs. Young batsmen Devdutt Padikkal and Yashasvi Jaiswal hit brilliant half-centuries as Royals successfully chased down the target of 188 with two balls to spare.
Shikhar Dhawan and Co. were reeling at 50 for 4 when Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma revived the innings with a 64-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Later, Shah Rukh Khan scored an unbeaten 41 off 23 balls to take the team to 187 for 5. In reply, they needed to complete the target in 18.3 overs to overtake the net run rate of Royal Challengers Bangalore but unfortunately, they could not.
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However, Royals RR got two points to stay in the competition. They would want Bangalore and Mumbai Indians to lose their final league matches on Sunday. Meanwhile, young all-rounder Riyan Parag has made a special request to RR over Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad to qualify for the playoffs.
“GT and SRH please help us a little now,” tweeted Riyan after RR’s win over PBKS.
Riyan seeks help from GT and SRH as they will be clashing with RCB and MI respectively in their last league matches. Faf du Plessis and Co. are to host the defending champions in Bengaluru while SRH and MI are to play at the Wankhede on Sunday.
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Gujarat has already qualified and if they beat RCB, RCB’s net run rate will get affected. RCB’s current NRR is 0.180 and if they lose by more than 6 runs or with 5 balls to spare it would mean that RR will drop to the fourth position. RCB and Mumbai will also be out if they lose to Sunrisers.
If both RCB and MI win on Sunday, RR will be the first to knock and a better NRR will decide the former’s fate.
