Rajasthan Royals lead spinner R Ashwin warms up at the Barsapara Stadium, which is making its IPL debut. In the 2022 edition, the veteran off-spinner picked 12 wickets and scored 191 runs including a half-century. In this edition, Ashwin took 1 for 27 in the Royals’s opening game win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Rajasthan Royals’s Jason Holder and Yuzvendra Chahal pick the brains of Lasith Malinga, the third-highest wicket-taker in the history of the IPL. The Indian leggie, with 171 wickets, is already the highest wicket-taker among Indians in the IPL.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and opted to bowl against the Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab Kings at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, citing dew as the reason. Both teams went with an unchanged XI in Guwahati.
Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan wasn’t too disappointed after losing his second consecutive toss. After all, Punjab had won its first game against the Kolkata Knight Riders despite losing the toss.
Prabhsimran Singh and Shikhar Dhawan hammered 63 in the PowerPlay and made the most of the good batting conditions. Rajasthan employed four bowlers inside the first six overs but none was spared.
Prabhsimran Singh slammed his maiden IPL half-century in 28 balls, striking at close to 200. The opener was handed a life when Devdutt Padikkal dropped him on 44, off Jason Holder’s bowling.
Jason Holder finally got his man as the all-rounder dismissed Prabhsimran Singh for a 34-ball 60 and his knock was laced with seven hits to the fence and three sixes at a strike rate of 176.47. The Punjab opener was en route to a maiden IPL century, but was cut short by Holder.
Shikhar Dhawan scored his 48th IPL half-century and stands second in the list of most fifties in the IPL. Warner has 54 half-centuries to his name and tops the charts while Kohli stands third with 45 fifties.
Yuzvendra Chahal became the second-highest wicket-taker in the IPL as with 171 wickets the leg-spinner stands only behind Dwayne Bravo who tops the list with 183 wickets. Chahal pipped legendary Sri Lankan bowler and current Rajasthan Royals’ fast bowling coach Lasith Malinga who has 170 sticks to his name.
Shikhar Dhawan made a brilliant unbeaten 56-ball 86 and helped Punjab Kings post a challenging 197/4 in 20 overs. The Punjab skipper hit nine boundaries and three sixes at a strike rate of 153.57.
Jason Holder was the pick of the Rajasthan bowlers with two wickets and gave 29 runs in his quota of four overs. The all-rounder provided Rajasthan the first breakthrough by dismissing Prabhsimran Singh who blazed away with an attacking maiden IPL half-century.
R Ashwin and Yashasvi Jaiswal opened the batting for Rajasthan as regular opener Jos Buttler was receiving treatment for a finger injury. Buttler injured his finger after taking a sliding catch in the final over to dismiss Shahrukh Khan.
Arshdeep Singh continued to impress with the new ball as the Punjab pacer dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal and R Ashwin to give Punjab early advantage. Both Rajasthan openers failed to give their team a good start.
Nathan Ellis made a huge impact and dented Rajasthan’s run chase by dismissing Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson. Rajasthan slipped in persuit of 198 runs and Ellis played an instrumental role in Punjab’s dominance.
Sanju Samson oozed class and smashed a counter-attacking 25-ball 42 with five boundaries and a six. However Samson took a risk of playing a big shot to up the ante but the move brought the Rajasthan skipper’s downfall and smiles in the Punjab camp.
Dhruv Jurel played a magnificent knock under pressure and the Impact Player almost won the match for Rajasthan with an unbeaten 15-ball 32.
Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer added 61 runs off just 26 balls to inject hope in the Rajasthan Royals’ run chase. The duo batted fearlessly and almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. But, it was Punjab who held its nerve.
Sam Curran bowled a heroic last over and defended 16 runs. The pacer brought his experience into play to help Punjab eke out a narrow five-run win against Rajasthan.
Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab Kings climbed to the second spot in the points table with two wins in as many matches after registering a narrow win over Rajasthan Royals.
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