Royals down Punjab; close in on play-offs

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal marked his return to Rajasthan Royals' playing eleven with a scintillating 68 while Shimron Hetmyer exhibited his finishing exploits in an unbeaten 31 to help the inaugural IPL winners defeat Punjab Kings by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.

After Jonny Bairstow's 58 and Jitesh Sharma's unbeaten 38 took Punjab to 189/5, Jaiswal shined in his comeback match of IPL 2022, hitting his shots well and picking the gaps easily. After he fell, Devdutt Padikkal struggled to get going. But Hetmyer ensured that Rajasthan chased down the total to successfully break their two-match losing streak and keep themselves in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs.

Jaiswal began by slamming two fours through cuts in the off-side and a glorious picked-up six over deep square leg. Jos Buttler joined the attacking party in the fourth over, launching Kagiso Rabada for a six over deep midwicket. He followed it up with three fours -- carving one through extra cover, a lap-pull over short fine leg while in air and smoked through cover. But Rabada had the last laugh, having an over-improvising Buttler caught at short third man.

Jaiswal reached his maiden fifty of the tournament in 33 balls. Jaiswal then followed it up with three fours off Dhawan in the 13th over -- a smack over long-on, scoop flying over short third man and nailing drive past cover. After taking another four through reverse sweep off Chahar, Jaiswal tried to take over Arshdeep Singh but holed out to long-off, breaking the 56-run stand.

Earlier, everyone in Punjab's batting line-up got starts but only Bairstow could convert into a fifty, a 40-ball 56, also his highest score of IPL 2022.

Brief scores: Punjab Kings 189/5 in 20 overs (Jonny Bairstow 56, Jitesh Sharma 38 not out; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/28, Ravichandran Ashwin 1/32) lost to Rajasthan Royals 190/4 in 19.4 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 68, Shimron Hetmyer 31 not out; Arshdeep Singh 2/29, Rishi Dhawan 1/25). IANS

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