One hit spelt the difference between the two sides as Punjab Kings grated out a belligerent 62-run stand between Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel to carve a five-run win against Rajasthan Royals at Guwahati’s Barsapara Stadium on Wednesday.
Punjab Kings almost lost their batting momentum, scoring 63 in the powerplay, 89 in the next nine but just 45 runs in the last 30 balls. Amid the ruins of a bowling attack where even the usually formidable Yuzvendra Chahal went for 12.5 per over, Ravichandran Ashwin and Jason Holder picked three wickets between them for just 54 runs in eight overs. Nothing underscored Holder’s stranglehold better than the 20th over where he removed Shahrukh Khan but more importantly conceded just seven runs.
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But so impressive was the start that Kings basically ran on fumes even though the shots were not coming off the bat. Prabhsimran Singh was the orchestrator of this head start, scoring two thirds of a 34-ball 60 in boundaries and sixes. Till the time Jos Buttler plucked out a brilliant catch–haring in from long-off–to dismiss Prabhsimran in the 10th over, Punjab Kings were primed to cross 200. But now they needed to pace their innings, so Shikhar Dhawan stepped up.
His wasn’t the most visually pleasant transformation, repeatedly failing to connect the reverse ramp shot after taking out Bhanuka Rajapaksa with a massive swat. But it was undoubtedly effective. From a run-a-ball 30, to a 36-ball fifty, finally scoring 86 off 56, Dhawan’s X-factor was his persistence, willing to stretch the game. He started to find his groove with an 18-run over off Chahal, sealing it with a massive six over long-on, pulling him from wide of off.
The next over of Chahal, Dhawan found boundaries through deep backward square, deep midwicket and long off to reach his 50th IPL fifty, level with Virat Kohli and 10 behind David Warner. When Holder was slowly changing the course of the innings towards the end, Dhawan was the only batter to hit a six off him–a premeditated reverse flick over backward point. The last two boundary hits too came off Dhawan’s bat, keeping Punjab Kings chugging even though the rate had dropped significantly.
With dew expectedly hitting Barsapara Stadium, Royals would have backed themselves to get 197 with the kind of batting they possess. Buttler demoted himself trying to mend a hand bruised while taking a catch but Yashasvi Jaiswal was on the button, swinging his arms to a half-tracker from Sam Curran for a 69-metre six. Another four and Jaiswal was done for the day, holing to extra cover. Ashwin has now batted from No 1 to 10 but it was a forgettable outing for him, being dismissed without opening his account. Buttler fell to a bizarre caught and bowled by Nathan Ellis but it was Samson who once again turned on the heat with a 25-ball 42, keeping Royals in the hunt.
Both Devdutt Padikkal and local boy Riyan Parag got promising starts but Ellis used his lengths well to dismiss them. End of a five-run 16th over from Rahul Chahar and Royals were almost down and out, staring at 69 from 24 balls. But Shimron Hetmyer and impact sub Dhruv Jurel had other ideas, whacking a 50-run stand off just 22 balls before shredding the equation to 16 off six. With Hetmyer’s wicket and three runs in his first three balls, Curran, the most expensive IPL player ever, showed why he is rated so highly before holding his nerve and sealing a narrow win.
