RR vs PBKS Match Highlights:
Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings by six wickets in the 52nd match of IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
The Royals started their chasing campaign on a good note as both their openers Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal provided them the perfect start. They were playing with a run rate of 12 plus before Kagiso Rabada finally got Jos Buttler. The opener in that over smashed one six and three-consecutive fours but on the last delivery, he failed to play a proper scoop shot and was caught by Rajapaksa at short third man.
Skipper Sanju Samson only managed to score 23 runs and was dismissed by Rishi Dhawan. Although the 20-year-old young batter Yashasvi Jaiswal was in some other mood and he keep on thrashing Punjab bowling and completed his half-century in just 33 balls. Some moment of joy for Punjab fans came when Yashasvi (68 off 41) got caught on log off on the second ball of the 15th over.
While Devdutt Padikkal (31 in 32 balls) did his anchor job perfectly by rotating the strike, Shimron Hetmyer carry forward the destructive momentum and scored a fire-cracking 31 runs in just 16 delivers to guide his team to win the game.
After opting to bat first, Punjab Kings Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow gave their team a blistering start against Rajasthan Royals bowlers. In the first five overs, Punjab put 46 runs on the board and looked unstoppable but Ashwin trapped Dhawan in his very first over, and the one-hand catch effort of Jos Buttler at the mid-on forced Dhawan back to the pavilion.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa again played a short but quick cameo of 27 runs in just 18 deliveries to set the momentum before he dismissed by Chahal. The captain Mayank Agarwal, who came at no.4, once again failed to convert his start as he was caught on log on when he was at 15.
In the same over Yuzvendra Chahal got rid of the dangerous looking Jonny Bairstow as well. The Englishman who was seen struggling in this tournament so far, played a 56 runs knock at a strike of 140. Punjab Kings were at 132 for 4 in 16 overs, but with the joint efforts of Liam Livingstone (22 off 14 balls) and Jitesh Sharma (38 off 18) in the final overs help Punjab Kings post 189/5 in 20 overs vs Rajasthan Royals.
The leg spin master Yuzvendra Chahal bowled dazzlingly and recorded figures of 3/28. While Ravichandran Ashwin and Prasidh Krishna took a wicket each.
Player of the match – Yashasvi Jaiswal
