Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings Match Scorecard

Shimron Hetmyer’s game-winning cameo at the end helped Rajasthan beat Punjab in an entertaining low-scoring thriller, with Jaiswal hitting 39 at top and Hetmyer smashing three sixes for Rajasthan to pull away in this pivotal encounter.

Punjab struggled early in their innings against Hetmyer’s powerful hitting on a slow track. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Tanush Kotian put on an opening partnership of over fifty, before Hetmyer struck for the winning runs to end that stand-off. For a detailed breakdown of the match, you can refer to the Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings match scorecard, which provides all the crucial statistics from this exciting encounter.

Rajasthan: 148 runs

Rajasthan Royals managed to recover after dropping six wickets early, scoring an admirable total of 148/8 on an otherwise difficult pitch. Led by Ashutosh Sharma who scored 31 off 16 balls near the end and helped get them close to victory.

Punjab was initially struggling, losing three top order batsmen within eight overs to fall behind at 57/3 before rallying to reach 147/8 in 20 overs courtesy of Jitesh Sharma and Sam Curran’s 59-run 5th wicket partnership that helped get back into the game.

Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat first in order to disrupt his opponents’ playoff hopes. Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati features minimal dew factor which made batting first an advantageous strategy.

Royals struggled to post a substantial total in the powerplay overs, being limited to only 129 runs by Trent Boult and Avesh Khan’s early strikes to derail RR batting momentum and keep up with scoring rate. Meanwhile, sluggish pitch conditions didn’t help their batsmen keep pace with scoring rate either.

Samson of RR commented that it was an enjoyable game and was pleased to see players running for catches. It is essential to remain focused on the task at hand in order to move into the next round of competition successfully.

Hetmyer expressed his joy over scoring the crucial run in the final over and winning such an intense match, adding that it had been his hope to showcase what he could bring to the team and he looks forward to his next challenge.

The Royals have won four and lost two of their five Indian Premier League matches so far this season, placing second with a net run rate of +0.349 and reaching 200 runs for the first time ever in this edition of IPL. Since 2008 when IPL started up again, these two sides have played 28 times against one another; Royals won 16 matches while Punjab Kings managed 12; both will meet again on May 21 in Jaipur with both hoping for victory that can put them in contention for knockout stages participation.

Punjab: 152 runs

Although Punjab put on an impressive bowling performance, Rajasthan were always in contention after reaching 144/6. Sam Curran made a great fifty while Jitesh Sharma contributed another fifty partnership, keeping their pursuit on course, yet Chahal continued his aggressive bowling and kept the target out of reach.

Prabhsimran starts off his innings by driving straight down the ground a fuller ball angled at his pads for four. On his next delivery from that same bowler – another fuller delivery this time – Prabhsimran scores another four and advances to 18 not out.

Boult again throws another short yorker that Prabhsimran handles effortlessly to score another boundary and take his team’s score up to 155/6. Additionally, singles ensue as Prabhsimran continues his run-outs against Boult.

Boult delivers a dipping yorker near long on and Avesh narrowly misses his catch attempt. Shortly afterwards, however, from the same bowler comes another delivery which Avesh attempts to pull but instead only hits it straight back at him for an easy catch at long on.

Batsmen will find it difficult to score on this slow pitch, making RCB’s attempt at capitalising on it in their last visit unable to break free from its grip. Now however, they hope to end this stalemate by breaking it open themselves this time around.

Royals remain second on the points table despite losing three consecutive matches and require just one victory to clinch their playoff place. Their next opponent will be Punjab who have already made it out and under Sam Curran may seek to stop any top four ambitions held by Royals.

Curran led Punjab to a decent total on an unforgiving wicket with his splendid innings, supported by Jitesh Sharma (unbeaten on 68 from 78 balls), Rilee Rossouw, who chipped in 28 from 18 balls, and Ricardo Hernandez-Leemans (18 balls). Royals batsmen put on another disappointing showing as they continue their road struggles this season, dropping all five away matches so far and appearing unlikely to change things up in their remaining three matches. Without improvement to their batting, qualifying for the play-offs will be very challenging. They will need help from other teams within their competition in order to do this successfully; furthermore they must reevaluate their captaincy as their current system isn’t providing sufficient leadership. Their captain Sanju Samson isn’t in great form at present and needs to up his game against the Punjab Kings. After winning the toss and electing to bat first on a green pitch with minimal dew factor, Sanju likely made the right call by selecting to bat first in this matchup.

Final score

Rabada kept asking rates down and quickly picked two wickets (Jaiswal and Samson) but neither team could gain momentum during the powerplay period. RR managed to build up an early lead through Jurel who holed out to deep midwicket before Hetmyer came on at number four to score an unbeaten unbeaten 66 off 41 balls!

Rajasthan was in desperate need of this victory as they had lost ground on making the playoffs. Meanwhile, Punjab were already all but eliminated with only eight points available against their 14 needed. Although this loss will hurt deeply for them in terms of playoff hopes, they can take plenty from such close games in future seasons.