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Rajasthan Royals 190 for 4 (Jaiswal 68, Hetmyer 31*, Padikkal 31, Arshdeep 2-29) beat Punjab Kings 189 for 5 (Bairstow 56, Jitesh 38*, Chahal 3-28) by six wickets
Opening the bowling, Trent Boult found swing with his first delivery, but it ended up on the pads and Bairstow flicked it through midwicket for four. Three balls later, Boult switched to around the wicket, but again strayed down the leg side. Bairstow helped it past short fine leg for another boundary. But Boult made a strong comeback in his second over – bowling a maiden to Shikhar Dhawan – but went for 18 in his third as Bairstow and Shikhar hit him for two fours and a six.
R Ashwin sent back Shikhar in the final over of the powerplay, with Buttler back-pedalling at mid-on, leaping high, and plucking the ball out of the air with his right hand. But Bairstow and Bhanuka Rajapaksa kept the attack on. Facing only his third ball, Rajapaksa smashed Yuzvendra Chahal for six. Two overs later, he launched Kuldeep Sen over long-off before hitting Prasidh Krishna for back-to-back fours. Bairstow, too, found the boundary at regular intervals and the two took the side to 88 for 1 after ten overs.
Coming into this game, Kings had the lowest scoring rate (6.80) against spin among the ten teams in the tournament. And spin once again proved to be their Achilles’ heel. Rajapaksa stepped out to Chahal only to be bowled. Bairstow brought up his half-century, his first of the season, off 34 balls but Chahal returned to dismiss Mayank Agarwal and Bairstow in the same over. That left Kings on 122 for 4 after 15 overs with two new batters at the crease.
Jitesh, Livingstone finish strongly
It looked like Royals might restrict Kings to 175 but Jitesh took the lead and hit Prasidh for two consecutive fours before walloping Chahal for a six. Livingstone was on 12 off ten balls before hitting Prasidh for a six and a four in the space of three balls. But the seamer cut his innings short when he moved too far across to a full and straight ball and was bowled. In the final over, Jitesh hit Sen for 6, 4, 4 off successive balls to ensure a strong finish.
It was a daunting target but Royals got off to a blazing start with Jaiswal hitting Sandeep Sharma for two fours and six in the first over. In the fourth over, Buttler took Kagiso Rabada to the cleaners, smashing him for three fours and six. But the bowler had the last laugh. On the last ball of the over, Buttler shuffled across to lap Rabada over short fine leg but it was bowled full at his feet. Buttler realised the ball wasn’t there for the shot, changed his mind and tried to help it over short third man but couldn’t clear the fielder.
It looked like Kings could breathe easily for a while, but Buttler, with a mix of power, timing and luck, had collected four fours in the first seven balls he faced. So, at the end of eight overs, Royals were 85 for 1.
Rishi Dhawan sent Samson back for 23 off 12 balls when the batter skied one to cover-point. Batting at No. 4, Padikkal got stuck in first gear but Jaiswal’s strokeplay kept Royals abreast with the asking rate.
In the 18th over, bowled by Rabada, Padikkal too chipped in with two fours with a Hetmyer six sandwiched in between. That over produced 16 runs and brought the equation down to 11 from 12 balls. Arshdeep once again conceded only three and dismissed Padikkal, but the equation was very much in Royals’ favour.
With eight needed from the final over, Chahar started with a wide down the leg side. Hetmyer then lofted the next ball over long-on to level the scores. Two balls later, he chipped a full toss towards long-on for the winning run.
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