Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals delivered another nervy match this time. PBKS climbed to second place in the league table as they defeated RR by 5 wickets at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati. Sam Curran, the most expensive player in the auction delivered a frenetic finish, much needed for the PBKS at the last minute. Well, it seems Curran’s experience paid off.
Leading his side from the front in the high-scoring contest against Rajasthan Royals (RR), veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan played a stellar knock to help Punjab Kings (PBKS) extend their unbeaten run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Wednesday. The veteran Indian opener played a match-winning knock to make sure Punjab Kings finish ahead of the 2022 runners in the match.
Dhawan took over after opener Prabhsimran Singh gave Punjab Kings a terrific start in the powerplay. While Prabhsimran played an entertaining knock of 60 off 34 balls, star batter Dhawan top-scored for Punjab Kings to rewrite history in the world’s richest T20 league. Dhawan’s blistering knock of 86* off 56 balls guided Punjab Kings to a challenging 197-4 in 20 overs.
In reply, Samson and Co. put up a fight but the Men In Pink failed to chase down the massive target of 198 for victory on a placid batting track.
Samson, however, lost his rhythm when an injured Jos Buttler fell to Ellis. The 28-year-old hit just one boundary in the next five overs before getting out Ellis while trying to muscle a wide delivery over mid-off. He was dismissed for 42 off 25 balls.The wicket ended up being a major turning point in the match as RR despite valiant efforts from Shimron Hetmyer (36 off 18) and Dhruv Jurel (32 off 15) fell five short of the target.
Match No 8 helped Sanju Samson overtake Ajinkya Rahane to become RR’s all-time highest run scorer. Sam who just needed 3 runs to surpass Rahane’s tally of 3098 runs for RR became the first batter of the franchise to cross the 3100 mark. He achieved the feat by hitting Arshdeep’s fuller-length delivery straight over his head for a six.