NEW DELHI: Punjab Kings won its game against Rajasthan Royals yesterday in the Indian Premier League with all-rounder Sam Curran’s fifty and two wickets.
The King’s had a struggle ahead, though the target was only 145. But Curran’s unbeaten knock of 63 off 41 balls, including three sixes and five fours enabled his side to surpass their fifth victory this term, ending up at 145/5 after 18.5 overs.
Curran was helped by Jitesh Sharma (22 off 20 balls) and their partnership for the fifth wicket yielded runs at a steady rate of 63 during their time together on the crease.
Rajasthan Royals kept their second position intact on the points table with 16 points despite losing four matches in a row and entering into playoffs.
Punjab lost an early wicket when Prabhsimran Singh departed to Trent Boult in the first over but Avesh Khan grabbed two in a single over later leaving them struggling at that point.
First, he induced Rilee Rossouw (22 off13 balls) to reach out but there was no real power behind it as well as Shashank Singh who got stumped for naught from just two balls he had faced having missed a flick outside off stump that passed his bat without making much contact with it; hitting it straight into keeper’s gloves that led him not even trying DRS before walking back to pavilion.
Two sixes from Jitesh off R Ashwin turned Punjab’s chase around after which Curran hit Ashwin for another maximum across extra cover.
However, Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed both set batsmen – Jitesh and Curran – within one over reducing PBKS to 111 for five at the end of sixteenth over itself
Then, they reached home with about four overs left courtesy of some spirited batting by Curran and Ashutosh Sharma (17 not out, 11 balls) which did not witness any more dismissals.
Another slow surface meant that RR found themselves in a spot of bother following a disastrous beginning after the exit of Jaiswal who cut a back-of-a-length delivery from Curran (2/24) into his stumps.
This partnership helped Narine (75*) bring up his half-century and ended the match with three consecutive sixes off Boult’s final over to give the Knight Riders an astonishing four-wicket win.
Parag, who had reached 48 runs by then, started throwing his bat around while R Aswin bowled at him but it only led to another wicket for Rajasthan.
Ashwin exhibited his batting talents by smacking Chahar for 17 runs in the twelfth over which involved a sequence of 6, 4, 4 and the first four was a stunning reverse scoop over backward point.
However, he could not add any more runs to his total when he lofted Arshdeep to Shashank.
But because wickets were falling regularly at the other end he had to rein in his flamboyant style in front of an adoring home crowd.
Atleast though, a late cut off Curran that sped to third man stood as testimony of his ability and timing besides moving him past the 500-run mark for the season before getting trapped in front by Harshal Patel.
However, apart from conquering those little peaks the RR batters failed to slip into the top gear consistently.
