Who won yesterday IPL Match? Punjab Kings (PBKS) took on Rajasthan Royals (RR) at home on April 13. Rajasthan, coming from 4 wins in 5 matches, won the toss and decided to bowl first in another last-over thriller between the two.
The first setback for Punjab was that their captain Shikhar Dhawan was ruled out of the game due to a minor injury. Sam Curran stepped in as the Punjab skipper. Left-hander Atharva Taide opened with Jonny Bairstow. He was out for 15 off 12 balls and did not bother the scorer much. Bairstow followed him soon enough.
Punjab kept losing wickets, and the scoring rate was not high either. In 12.1 overs, they were 70/5 as Jitesh Sharma tried to take the PBKS score higher. When he was out for 29 off 24 balls, the Kings were 103/6 in 16.1 overs. They needed a good finish.
Liam Livingstone and Ashutosh Sharma tried their part. Livingstone’s 21 off 14 balls and Sharma’s 31 off 16 balls took Punjab to 147/8 in 20 overs. It looked like an easy target for table toppers Rajasthan. But, a PBKS vs RR match can never be easy.
Tanush Kotian and Yashasvi Jaiswal opened for Rajasthan. While Jaiswal tried playing his usual game of offence, Kotian was slow and took a lot of time to score. He Livingstone castled him, and RR were 56/1 in 8.2 overs.
Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag, star batters for the Royals, could not convert their start to a higher score. RR were 113/4 in 16.4 overs, with both of them back in the pavilion. Dhruv Jurel was out soon, and RR were at 115/5 in 17.2 over. Suddenly, the match looked tight.
With 20 needed from the last 2 overs, captain Sam Curran came to bowl for the Kings. Rovman Powell hit him for back-to-back 4s. However, he was out in the next ball. Sam dismissed Keshav Maharaj in his final delivery. Rajasthan needed 10 off the last over.
Arshdeep Singh started brilliantly with 2 dot balls. However, Rajasthan still had Shimron Hetmyer, who won it for them against PBKS in the past. He hit the third delivery for a 6, and the equation leaned in RR’s favour. He took another couple of runs in the next ball, thanks to a little fumble by Sam Curran at Long On. Then, Hetmyer hit another 6 to seal a 3-wicket victory for Rajasthan.
Player of the Match
Shimron Hetmyer won IPL matches for Rajasthan against Punjab in the past. Both in 2022 and 2023, he pulled off last-over thrillers for his team. His 27 off 10 balls in this match got him the Player of the Match.
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Published: 14 Apr 2024, 07:02 AM IST
