Punjab Kings once again were not so impressive with the ball, the no ball call from Kagiso Rabada was a crucial mistake. Overall, Punjab will know that they were 15 runs short on where chasing gets easier as the overs pass.
As the toss, Sanju Samson said that they will prefer chasing because that allowed them to play according to the runrate scenario. Punjab Kings didn’t have a great start, both of the openers were back in the pavallion with the powerplay.
Dhawan scored 17 off 12, the emerging player Atharva Taide tried to press on the accelerator but soon he was dismissed for 12 balls 19 by Navdeep Saini, leaving 38 for 2. Dhawan was trapped by Adam Zampa who did his job well, and in the sixth over, Saini dismissed Liam Livingstone.
At that stage, Punjab looked in massive trouble, Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma were the guys who shared 64 runs partnership to elevate PBKS from 57/4 to 114/5 by the end of 14th over.
Punjab Kings were in better position considering their start, but a few silent overs from RR bowlers had PBKS on backfoot, and it looked they will reach only 160 on a 200 runs wicket. However, Curran and his partner Shahrukh Khan had other plans for the last two overs.
RR conceded 46 runs in the last two overs, 30 runs were given away in the 19th over by Yuzvendra Chahal and 16 by Boult in the 20th over. Punjab ended up with 187 runs board which seemed a lot better from Punjab’s point of view.
RR Set The Tempo In Chase
Even though, RR lost Jos Buttler in the second over due to brilliant set up by Kagiso Rabada but RR stayed true to their task in the powerplay by adding 57 runs for the loss of 1 wicket.
During the middle overs, PBKS bowlers did succeed in impeding the cruising chase by RR, and two wickets in two overs really made the game for them. Well set Devdutt Padikkal was dismissed after 29 balls 50, in the next over, Rahul Chahar got better of Sanju Samson by playing with his ego.
Once again, the responsibility came on Hetmeyer’s shoulders to finish the job and his 28 balls 46 after a nice half century by Yashasvi Jaiswal put RR ahead in the game. By the time, Hetmyer was dismissed by Curran, the win was only one hit away.
RR destiny chose impact player Dhruv Jorel to finish the job in style when 5 runs were needed in last 3 balls, and a nonchalant six by Jorel ended Punjab’s season on a low and gave RR a chance to qualify for the playoffs.