Rajasthan Royals 228 for 4 (Ferreira 52*, Jaiswal 51, Sooryavanshi 43, Dubey 31*, Chahal 3-36) beat Punjab Kings 222 for 4 (Stoinis 62*, Prabhsimran 59, Connolly 30, Iyer 30, Punja 2-41) by six wickets
Archer’s pace, Arya’s fearlessness
Priyansh Arya was coming into the game with a powerplay strike rate of 260.27. Within his first five balls, he showed why he is one of the most fearless batters going around. He started with a spliced pull off Nandre Burger, before flat-batting him through midwicket and then following up with two of the most audacious strokes. Burger bowled a back-of-a-length ball outside off stump and Arya stood tall and played a nonchalant on-the-up back-foot punch over the covers for a clean six. The next ball was carved over backward point, before some luck got him another four. RR had raced to 29 for 0 after two.
RR’s middle-overs control
Coming into this game, Stoinis had faced 26 balls this IPL. But he showed off once he got his chance. He smashed Archer for two sixes in the 19th over, but reserved his best for the last. Fast bowler Brijesh Sharma had gone for just 18 runs off his first three overs, his slower balls were gripping and hard to hit. But Stoinis smashed the bowler for 24 to power PBKS past 220 as they scored 62 in the last four overs.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was all this while the silent spectator. But as soon as Sooryavanshi departed, he went on the offensive against Arshdeep as RR raced to 66 for 1 after four overs. Harpreet Brar, the impact player, bowled a two-run fifth over, but Ferguson was taken for runs again with RR racing to 84 for 1 after six.
With the early punches in, PBKS fought back with the help of their spinners. Brar’s four overs cost just 25 runs, which included just one four and one six. Chahal removed Dhruv Jurel with a juicy full toss that was mistimed only as far as wide long-on. Jaiswal reached his fifty off 26 balls but soon sliced Chahal straight to long-off. Riyan Parag also started well but also holed out off Chahal for 29 off 16.
Ferreira and Dubey – the finishers
The required rate was exactly 12 when Parag holed out, with RR needing 72 off 36. But the PBKS spinners were done after conceding just 61 off 48 balls, and Dubey and Ferreira cashed in.
After Arshdeep’s opening two overs went for 37, his final two went for 31. Dubey crashed Marco Jansen for a four and six in the 16th, Ferguson was smoked for 16 in the 19th, and the game had turned in five overs. Ferreira hit the winning runs with a six over long-on to bring up his second IPL fifty and help RR secure two important points. The PBKS fast bowlers leaked 166 off 68 balls, an issue that has been plaguing them for a while.
