Indian Premier League 2024: Clinical Punjab Kings hand Rajasthan Royals fourth loss on the trot

Riyan’s fighting 48 goes in vain as Curran steals the show

Guwahati: Captain Sam Curran’s all-round performance helped Punjab Kings comfortable 5-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in match 65 of the Indian Premier League at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati on Wednesday night.

With this result, PBK jumped into 9th spot from the bottom with 10 points while RR remained at second spot in the points table despite fourth consecutive  loss.

Chasing 144 in a relatively slow pitch, Punjab Kings reached the target in 18.5 overs losing 5 wickets. After losing 3 wickets inside powerplay and then losing key wicket of Jonny Bairstow (14) in the 8th over when the score was 48, young Curran took the responsibility  and put on vital 63 runs with Jitesh Sharma (22). Curran remained unbeaten at 63 from 41 balls with 3 sixes with Ashutosh Sharma (17).  Avesh Khan and Yuzvendra CHahal took two wickets each.

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals batting struggle continued as the Punjab Kings’ excellent bowling efforts restricted them to a score of 144/9.

It was once again the hometown hero, Riyan Parag who continued his impressive form scoring 48 runs off 34 deliveries. He replayed his innings from their previous game against CSK in a similar fashion where he had scored 47 runs off 35 deliveries. Parag’s contribution was the only worthwhile one in the RR batting lineup as the team was restricted to a sub par score.

The Royals for the second game in a row struggled to get off to a good start. Punjab captain Curran who stated before the game that he ‘certainly does not want to lose tonight’ started the game by backing his statement and bowled out Indian Prodigy, Yashasvi Jaiswal in the very first over.

RR managed to score only 33 runs in the powerplay which was similar to their powerplay score of 42 against CSK in their previous game. This was followed by wickets at regular intervals for PBKS whose bowlers did not give the Rajasthani batters any chance of gathering rhythm.

The fall of the third wicket saw the team send Ravichandran Ashwin to the crease in hopes of restoring some sort of rhythm into the team. The Indian veteran did answer the calls of the team’s management as he strung together a 50-run partnership which was the largest of the night before Ashwin was caught trying to clear the boundary off Arshdeep Singh. After Ashwin’s departure, the middle and lower order were kept in check by the Kings’ bowlers.

Riyan Parag lost his wicket as he was caught plumb for lbw in the final over through a slower full toss by Harshal Patel who became the leading wicket-taker with 22 wickets overtaking Jasprit Bumrah (20 wickets) with one game to go.

Riyan completed 500 runs  in this edition and reached fourth position in the highest runs category with 531 runs from 13 matches. On the other hand, it was the second defeat for RR against Punjab Kings in this ground in as many as matches.

Brief Score: Rajasthan Royals 144/9 in 20 overs (Riyan Parag 48, Ravichandran Ashwin 28; Sam Curran 2-24, Rahul Chahar 2-26) lost to Punjab Kings 145/5 in 18.5 overs (Sam Curran 63no, Rillee Rossouw 22, Jitesh Sharma 22, Avesh Khan 2/28, Chahal 2/31). Agencies

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