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In a match that went right down to the wire, Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab Kings (PBKS) held their nerves to register their second win on the trot in Indian Premier League (IPL). Dhawan’s unbeaten 86 and Nathan Ellis’ maiden IPL four-fer helped PBKS beat Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals (RR) by five runs at Barsapara Cricket Stadium on April 5 despite Shimron Hetmyer and debutant Dhruv Jurel’s heroics in slog overs.
In the run chase of 198, Royals surprised everyone by sending Ravichandran Ashwin to open. Yashasvi Jaiswal started off the innings with a six but he became Arshdeep Singh's first victim of the night. Jaiswal scored 11 runs from 8 deliveries. The Ashwin move backfired as well. He got out for a four-ball duck in Ashwin's next over. Jos Buttler hit a four and a six. He had support from skipper Sanju Samson. In his first over, Nathan Ellis' slower ball got the better of Buttler. Ellis took a brilliant catch off his own bowling to send back to the dressing room for 19. After powerplay overs, Royals had 57/3 on the board.
Devdutt Padikkal played too many dot deliveries in the partnership with Samson. Padikkal struggled to rotate the strike and Samson did the bulk of scoring. Ellis came back into the attack and got the big wicket of Samson. The skipper scored 42 runs from 25 balls including five fours and one six. Riyan Parag provided the much-needed boost to the scoring rate by taking on Sikandar Raza, Rahul Chahar. Dhawan brought back Ellis again and it worked. Parag got out in an attempt to hit a big shot. He scored 20 runs from 12 balls including one four and two sixes. In the same over, he got the wicket of Padikkal as well. He managed to score 21 runs from 26 balls.
In the last four overs, Royals needed 69 runs to win. Shimron Hetmyer took on Kings' prime wicket-taker Ellis and hit him for a six. Impact player Dhruv Jurel hit Ellis for a six as well. In the 18th over, Hetmyer smashed Sam Curran for two sixes and one four. From last two overs, Royals needed 34 runs to win. Jurel held his nerve against Arshdeep and hit him for two fours and one six to even the odds. Arshdeep conceded 18 runs from the penultimate over. After taking a beating, Curran held his nerve in the final over. Hetmyer got run out on the third ball trying to take the second run. Hetmyer scored 36 runs from 18 balls including one four and three sixes. On the final ball, Jurel hit a boundary but Royals fell short of the target by five runs. He remained not out for 32 off 15 balls.
Earlier, Samson won the toss and opted to field first. In the powerplay overs, Prabhsimran Singh went ballistic. In the fourth over, Prabhsimran hit KM Asif for three fours and a six. At the end of powerplay overs, PBKS were 63/0. In the eighth over, Prabhsimran got to his half-century from 28 balls. Jason Holder ended Prabhsimran's carnage-filled innings. He scored 60 runs from 34 balls including seven fours and three sixes. Jitesh Sharma walked out with the attacking intent and hit Chahal for two consecutive fours. Dhawan negated Chahal factor too by hitting him for a six. In Chahal's next over, Dhawan got to his 48th IPL fifty from 36 balls. He hit the leg-spinner for three fours in the over.
Jitesh took on Trent Boult as well and hit him for a six. After taking a beating, Chahal got the wicket of Jitesh who contributed with a cameo of 27 from 16 balls. In the next over, Ashwin came back into the attack and got Sikandar Raza's wicket. Ashwin finished with 24 runs from his quota of four overs. Dhawan took on Asif in the penultimate over and reached 80s. He did not get strike in the final over bowled by Sam Curran. Shahrukh Khan got out to Holder after hitting a boundary. Curran played a dot ball followed by single. PBKS fell short of the 200-run mark as they managed to post 197/4.
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