Yashasvi Jaiswal (50, 36b, 8×4) and Devdutt Padikkal’s (51, 30b, 5×4, 3×6) fifties had been complemented by Shimron Hetmyer’s cameo as Rajasthan Royals ensured it had its neck simply above the water within the race for the IPL playoffs with a four-wicket win over Punjab Kings on the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium right here on Friday.
As PBKS failed to succeed in the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season, life got here full circle for Impact Player Dhruv Jurel, who had introduced himself with an excellent knock in a dropping trigger in opposition to the identical opposition earlier within the match.
With six wanted off three balls and the ocean of pink in Dharamsala geeing up Rahul Chahar, Jurel dealt PBKS the deadly blow and silenced the gang with a six down the bottom.
Hetmyer had carried out his bit in getting underneath the pores and skin of the house facet with a match-winning knock and a few theatrics. With the asking charge nearing 10 with 4 overs remaining, Hetmyer was dropped on 36 off Sam Curran after which survived a caught behind determination in the identical over after it was overturned on enchantment. A pissed off Curran exchanged phrases with Hetmyer, who stored his calm earlier than being dismissed by the Englishman with 9 runs wanted.
The platform was laid by Jaiswal and Padikkal’s 73-run stand after Buttler set the file for essentially the most geese scored in a single season of the IPL.
Jaiswal began off in typical trend, utilizing the bounce of the pitch for 3 consecutive fours within the first over off Curran. Padikkal, nevertheless, was the aggressor within the partnership between the southpaws and reached his fifty off 29 balls.
RR wouldn’t have needed to scramble over the road had it not been for Shahrukh Khan (41 n.o., 23b, 4×4, 2×6) and Sam Curran’s (49, 31b, 4×4, 2×6) cameos.
In a 28-run penultimate over, Shahrukh exhibited his lengthy levers with a 4 and a six by way of midwicket off Yuzvendra Chahal earlier than Curran hammered 14 runs off three balls. Shahrukh then, with some luck, walloped Trent Boult for 18 runs off the ultimate over as PBKS received 46 runs off the final 12 balls – which finally wasn’t sufficient as RR dominated the PowerPlay and middle-overs, largely by way of good spells from Trent Boult, Navdeep Saini and Adam Zampa.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com