Mullanpur: Shimron Hetmyer played a determined and entertaining innings to guide Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a nail-biting three-wicket victory over Punjab Kings (PBKS). Hetmyer’s impressive performance proved crucial in steering RR to success in the final over of the match at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Punjab on Saturday in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
RR now comfortably leads the points table with just one loss in six games this season, while PBKS is on eighth place, having won only two out of their six matches.
Hetmyer’s quickfire 27 runs off 10 balls played a pivotal role in RR securing another victory, while Yashasvi Jaiswal, who hadn’t been in the best form this IPL season, also contributed significantly with a knock of 39 runs off 28 balls.
Earlier, Avesh Khan and Keshav Maharaj fiery spells helped Rajasthan Royals (RR) restrict (PBKS) to 147/8. Maharaj and Avesh were the leading wicket-takers for RR, each claiming two wickets. Meanwhile, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen, and Trent Boult secured one wicket each.
Sam Curran took over the captaincy today for PBKS, replacing Shikhar Dhawan who did not participate in the game due to an injury.
After winning the toss RR captain Samson said, “We’ll bowl first, it looks like a decent wicket to bowl first. We’ve made a target to not think about the goal, focus on the process, work on building the team and we’re doing well. A lot of challenges outside as well, we’ve many players missing from tonight’s game. 90% of the game was good – Jos isn’t 100%, Ash bhai is having a niggle, so Rovman and Kotian come into the XI.”
PBKS skipper Sam Curran at the toss said, “Shikhar picked up a niggle, that’s why I’m here. We would have bowled first as well, but we’ll now have to put the runs on the board. The balance has been good, we’d have liked to win a few more games, but the middle-order looks good, especially Shashank and Ashutosh. We’ve got exciting players and plenty of quality. We’ve Atharva Taide coming in for Shikhar tonight, Livingstone is back as well”
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Jonny Bairstow, Atharva Taide, Prabhsimran Singh, Sam Curran(c), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma(w), Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kagiso Rabada
