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Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), who are sailing on the same boat, locked horns with each other in a must-win IPL encounter in Dharamsala on Friday (May 19). Both the teams are vying for a spot in IPL 2023's playoffs, which looks far-fetched going by a rat race which is going on in the points table.
RR skipper Sanju Samson did the first thing right as he cleared the first hurdle by winning the toss. Samson opted to bowl first in the crucial match and moments later RR bowlers proved captains decision right. With Ravichandran Ashwin ruled out, RR's ace pacer Trent Boult took up the mantle and continued his tradition of picking up wickets in the first over of the match. This time
Yet again Boult came up with the first over and gave RR an early breakthrough in the form of PBKS' batting sensation Prabhsimran Singh, who recently belted a century in the ongoing IPL.
But what caught everyone's attention was the way Trent dismissed Prabhsimran. On the second ball of the first over, Prabhsimran tried to smash the ball over Boult's head but ended up chipping the ball in the air. The agile Boult launched himself in the air and pulled off an incredible dive catch towards his right to give his marching orders to Prabhsimran.
Watch the video here..
Follow the PBKS vs RR's live scores here
Prabhsimran was sent packing at the paltry score of 2 off 2 to leave PBKS reeling. Both the teams need to win the match if they want to keep themselves alive in the playoff race. Notably, PBKS are teetering on no.8 in the points table with 12 points in 13 matches, while RR also have the same number of points but have a better Net Run Rate of +0.16 and are placed sixth on the standings.
PBKS ended up posting a challenging total of 187/5 riding on Sam Curran's 49 off 31, Jitesh Sharma's 48 off 28 and Shahrukh Khan's 41 off 23. Navdeep Saini was the pick of the bowler for RR as he returned with a bowling figure of 3/40. In reply, RR rode on Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal's half centuries to chase down the total with fours wickets and two balls to spare.
Earlier, Samson won the toss and invited PBKS to bat first.
“We will bowl. Looking at the dimensions and looking as to what we require in the tournament, it is better to bowl. We need to win the game. Then see how the other games go. If you want to play good T20 cricket, you need to forget things. We have had four to five days off. One has to understand the conditions. We have couple of changes. Last minute changes. Ashwin misses out because of a back spasm,” RR skipper Samson said after winning the toss.
“Last match, dew wasn't much. First batting or second, it shouldn't change much. We will come and enjoy the game. Will try to give our best shot. We need to take more wickets in the first 6 overs. We can cash in more. We are playing the same team,” PBKS captain Shikhar Dhawan said after the toss.
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Adam Zampa, Trent Boult, Navdeep Saini, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal.
RR Impact Subs: Dhruv Jurel, Donovan Ferreira, Akash Vasisht, Kuldeep Sen, Murugan Ashwin.
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Shikhar Dhawan(c), Prabhsimran Singh, Atharva Taide, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma(w), Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Kagiso Rabada, Arshdeep Singh.
PBKS Impact Subs: Nathan Ellis, Sikandar Raza, Rishi Dhawan, Mohit Rathee, Matthew Short.
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