Dharamsala- Devdutt Padikkal and Yashasvi Jaiswal hit crucial fifties as Rajasthan Royals kept their playoffs hopes alive with a four-wicket win over Punjab Kings in their final IPL league match here on May 19.
Sent in to bat, PBKS were reeling at 50/4 but Sam Curran (49 not out) and Jitesh Sharma (44 off 28 balls) revived the innings while M Shahrukh Khan (41 not out off) provided the late surge to power the side to 187/5. Playing in only his second match of the season, pacer Navdeep Saini (3/40) picked up the best figures of his IPL career.
A target of 188 was never going to be easy and RR needed to complete the chase in 18.3 overs to get ahead of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s net run rate but they couldn’t. But still RR got two points to stay afloat, with Jaiswal (50 off 36) scripting the chase, adding 73 off 49 balls with Padikkal (51 off 30) and another 47 off 22 balls with Shimron Hetmyer (46) as RR won in 19.4 overs.
With the win, RR moved to fifth spot with 14 points, same as RCB and Mumbai Indians, who both still have a match to play in the league stage. The loss meant, PBKS are officially out of the IPL.
RR suffered an early setback during their chase with Kagiso Rabada getting Jos Buttler lbw for his third duck. But Padikkal and Jaiswal batted with purpose to take RR to 85/1 in 9.4 overs. But RR lost Padikkal and skipper Sanju Samson (3) in quick succession to leave them at 90/3 in the 11th over.
Jaiswal then found a perfect partner in Hetmyer, who slipped into the role of the aggressor with three sixes early on. Jaiswal completed his fifty in 35 balls before falling to a reverse hit off Nathan Ellis. RR still needed 51 off 33 balls and it was Riyan Parag (20 off 12 balls) who slammed two successive sixes off Rabada to bring the equation down. PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan pulled off a sensational catch to end Hetymer’s stay but impact player Dhruv Jurel clobbered a six off the fourth ball of the last over to knock off the winning runs.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings: 187/5 (Curran 49*, Jitesh 44; Saini 3/40); Rajasthan Royals: 189/6 in 19.4 overs (Padikkal 51, Jaiswal 50, Hetmyer 46; Rabada 2/40).
Source: PTI