RR vs PBKS: Sam Curran leads Punjab to victory with a brilliant innings, Rajasthan Royals get a shock before the playoffs

 

Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings: In the 65th match of IPL 2024 played in Guwahati, Punjab Kings defeated Rajasthan Royals by 5 wickets. Playing first, Rajasthan team scored 144/9 in 20 overs, in reply Punjab team achieved the target by scoring 145/5 in 18.5 overs. This was Punjab's fifth win in the current season and the team has reached ninth place in the points table with 10 points. At the same time, Rajasthan is still in second place but its hopes of finishing the league stage in the top 2 have suffered a setback.

While chasing the target of 145, Punjab Kings did not have a special start and opener Prabhsimran Singh was dismissed by Trent Boult after scoring 6 runs in the first over. Riley Rousseau played some good shots but he missed the big innings and was out at the score of 36 after scoring 22 runs and hitting five fours in 13 balls. Shashank Singh, who impressed everyone in the current season, disappointed and could not even open his account. At the same time, Jonny Bairstow also returned to the pavilion in the eighth over after scoring 14 runs. In this way, Punjab Kings team lost four important wickets within 50 runs.

Sam Curran played match winning innings

From here captain Sam Curran took the innings forward along with Jitesh Sharma. Both of them made a partnership of 63 runs for the fifth wicket and took the score beyond 100. This partnership ended with the dismissal of Jitesh and he was out in the 16th over after playing an innings of 22 runs. Karan completed his half-century in 38 balls and played an important role in his team's victory by playing an unbeaten inning of 63 runs in 41 balls. Impact player Ashutosh Sharma also scored unbeaten 17 runs. Avesh Khan and Yuzvendra Chahal took the maximum two wickets each for Rajasthan Royals.

Earlier, after winning the toss and batting first, there was very disappointing batting from Rajasthan Royals. Apart from Riyan Parag, no batsman could play a big innings and that is why the team's score did not even reach 150. Parag scored the highest score of 48 runs in 34 balls and became the first uncapped batsman to score more than 500 runs in the current season. Apart from him, Ravichandran Ashwin also played an important inning of 28 runs in 19 balls. Sam Curran also did wonders in bowling for Punjab Kings and took two wickets. Harshal Patel and Rahul Chahar also got two successes each.

Top 2 hopes got a blow

This was the fifth defeat in 13 matches for Rajasthan Royals, who have secured a place in the playoffs and have 16 points. There was a time when it seemed that the team would easily finish in the top 2 but now the equations have changed. RR's next match is against Kolkata Knight Riders, who have already secured their place in the top 2.

At the same time, even if Rajasthan wins its last match, it will have 18 points, but Sunrisers Hyderabad also has a chance to reach 18 points with two matches remaining and its net run rate is also better. In such a situation, to reach the top 2, Rajasthan will have to depend on its win as well as Hyderabad's defeat.