RR vs PBKS / Rajasthan won the match by 3 wickets, Hetmyer won by hitting a six

RR vs PBKS: Rajasthan Royals got their 5th win in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team defeated home team Punjab Kings by 3 wickets in Mullanpur. RR won by scoring 34 runs in the last 3 overs of a low-scoring match. Shimron Hetmyer scored 27 runs on 10 balls, he also helped the team win by hitting a six on the fifth ball of the 20th over. On Saturday, Rajasthan won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Punjab scored 147 runs at the loss of 8 wickets in 20 overs. Ashutosh Sharma scored 31 runs. Rajasthan achieved the target of 148 in 19.5 overs at the loss of 7 wickets. Sam Curran and Kagiso Rabada took 2-2 wickets from Punjab.

This is the 5th win of Rajasthan Royals in 6 matches in IPL, the team is on top with 10 points. On the other hand, Punjab Kings remain at number 8 due to their fourth defeat in 6 matches.

Rajasthan won by scoring 10 runs in the last over

Rajasthan needed 10 runs from the last 6 balls. Arshdeep Singh from Punjab did not give any runs on the first 2 balls. But a six was hit on the third ball, then Hetmyer took 2 runs on the fourth ball and gave the team victory by hitting a six on the fifth ball.

Punjab, which came with the hope of making a comeback after losing the previous match at its new home-ground Mullanpur, was without its captain Shikhar Dhawan this time. Dhawan was out of this match due to injury and in such a situation Atharva Taide came in his place for the opening but he too could not do anything. Jonny Bairstow failed in the sixth consecutive match. Rajasthan's pair of spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Keshav Maharaj completely controlled Punjab and reduced the team's 5 wickets to just 70 runs.

Jitesh Sharma, who had failed to make any significant impact this season, put up a brave fight for some time but that too was not enough while the short but sharp innings of Liam Livingston, who returned to the team, ended with a run out. In such a situation, Punjab was in danger of getting bundled out on a small score but impact substitute Ashutosh Sharma changed the picture of the match in the last 2 overs. Ashutosh scored 31 runs in just 16 balls and took the team to a worthy score of 147 runs.

Like Punjab, Rajasthan also entered without its star opener Jos Buttler and in such a situation, it gave the responsibility of opening to debutant Tanush Kotian. Tanush along with Yashasvi Jaiswal gave a good start to the team by making a half-century partnership but Tanshu's innings was very slow and he could score only 24 runs in 31 balls. Jaiswal made a fast start but could not convert his innings into a big score. Jaiswal was dismissed by Kagiso Rabada. Rabada also took the wicket of Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson.

The tight bowling of Rabada and Sam Curran did not give Rajasthan a chance to score fast. Still, Rajasthan's position was strong when Riyan Parag was at the crease. Ryan took the team beyond 100 runs and when he seemed to increase the pace, Arshdeep Singh dismissed him. Soon Dhruv Jurel also started leaving. 5 wickets were lost at the score of 117 in the 18th over. Here Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell made the team comeback by hitting 4 consecutive boundaries. Then in the 19th over, Karan took the match to the last over by taking the wickets of Powell and then Keshav Maharaj.