Rajasthan Royals beat Punjab Kings to stay alive in the race for IPL 2023 playoffs (Sportzpics)
Rajasthan Royals kept alive their hopes of reaching the IPL 2023 playoffs by defeating Punjab Kings by 4 wickets.
Dhruv Jurel’s winning six helped Rajasthan Royals keep alive their hopes of reaching the IPL 2023 playoffs with a 4-wicket win over Punjab Kings. It was a narrow victory and thus the inaugural IPL champions can only qualify if Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians lose their respective games, but Sanju Samson’s side did their job by winning their last league game.
Punjab Kings ended their ninth consecutive season outside the IPL playoffs as they finished eighth on the IPL 2023 points table.
RR needed to win the game in under 18.3 overs to boost their net run rate and have a chance to outclass RCB, but they could only manage to finish the game with 2 balls to spare.
Thus, the only way the Royals can get into the top four is if RCB and Mumbai Indians drop points.
PBKS vs RR Highlights IPL 2023
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson had won the toss and elected to bowl first as his bowlers rattled the Punjab Kings opening order with some scintillating bowling.
Trent Boult picked up his 5th wicket in the very first over as he dismissed Prabhsimran Singh, continuing his fine form in the powerplay. Atharva Tayde and PBKS skipper Shikhar Shavan both tried to steady the ship but they could not stay at the crease for long as Tayde added 19 runs before the fall of Navdeep Saini, while Dhawan was dismissed by Adam Zampa.
Liam Livingstone was the next man to depart, having scored 94 at the same venue in the previous match, but was dismissed for 9 as Saini got his second wicket. Sam Curran then held the fort along with Jitesh Sharma, with the latter scoring a flamboyant 28-ball 44 before falling victim to Saini.
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Curran though was joined by Shah Rukh Khan and the two of them helped provide a rich end as PBKS took it to 187/5. 46 runs came in the last 2 overs, with Curran returning unbeaten on 49 off 31 balls, while Shah Rukh scored 41 off 23 balls as the Royals bowlers were clean bowled.
Coming to the chase, it was a game to forget for Jos Buttler, who registered his 5th duck in the IPL 2023 season, the most by any player in a single campaign. Yashasvi Jaiswal, however, continued his fine form and struck a half-century to keep his side in the game.
Wickets kept falling at the other end, Devdutt Padikkal looked in good form and also brought up a half-century, but was dismissed for 51, Sanju Samson could only manage 2 runs, before Shimron Hetmyer joined Jaiswal.
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A brilliant catch by Rishi Dhawan ended Jaiswal’s stay at the crease, one of the rare good fielding displays from Punjab, who dropped several catches and conceded a few runs from sluggish efforts from several players.
Hetmyer put his side in the game with his big hits, Riyan Parag also hit a quickfire 12-ball 20 before impact player Dhruv Jurel ensured a difficult victory.