Riding on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 41-ball 68, Rajasthan Royals beat Punjab Kings convincingly by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
Batting first, Punjab scored 189-5. In reply, Royals chased the target with two balls to spare.
Royals opener Jaiswal, who managed 25 runs in his first three games, looked determined to prove a point on Saturday. The Mumbai-based left-hander smashed two fours and a six in the opening over off pacer Sandeep Sharma (0-41).
Perfect timing
Jaiswal shouldered the responsibility quite well, despite losing his opening partner Jos Buttler (30 off 16 balls, 5×4, 1×6) in the fourth over. Man of the match Jaiswal reached his maiden half-century off just 33 balls. Perfect timing and placements, exquisite cover drives, late cuts, reverse sweeps and innovative scoop shots were the highlights of his innings.
Yuzvendra Chahal celebrates a wicket on Saturday
Shimron Hetmyer (16-ball 31 not out, 3×4, 2×6) and Devdutt Padikkal (31 off 32 balls, 3×4) also played vital roles in RR’s successful run chase.
Earlier, Yuzvendra Chahal (3-28) was the pick of the bowlers for RR. His leg-spin posed enough problems for the Punjab batsmen.
Chahal, introduced after the Powerplay, was thrashed for a six over long-on by Bhanuka Rajapaksa (27). However, when the Indian spinner came back to bowl in the 11th over, he tempted the Sri Lankan southpaw with a flighted delivery again. However, Rajapaksa missed the line while stepping out before being clean bowled.
RR opener Jonny Bairstow (40-ball 56, 8×4, 1×6) and Jitesh Sharma (38 not out off 18 balls, 4×4, 2×6) were the top run-getters for Punjab.
Bairstow started well, twice dispatching Royals pacer Trent Boult (0-36) to the fence with the flick. He then pulled Boult’s short-pitched ball over the mid-wicket fence for a six. His maiden IPL fifty of IPL-15 came off just 34 balls.
Livingstone v Krishna
A fascinating passage of play took place between PBKS’ Liam Livingstone and RR pacer Prasidh Krishna in the penultimate over. Trying to counter-attack Krishna’s outside the off-stump fuller length balls, Livingstone was seen taking guard way outside the off-stump. He succeeded in hitting a six and a for. Krishna, though, had the last laugh when Livingstone, standing on an imaginary sixth stump, completely missed his yorker that crashed on to the stumps.
