Captain Sam Curran produced an all-round effort but it was his effort with the bat – 63* off 41 – that stood out as his Punjab Kings side chased down Rajasthan Royals’ 144 on a slow surface in Guwahati despite a wobble in the PowerPlay. The latest loss came in Guwahati, where Sam Curran and the rest of the Punjab Kings (PBKS) bowlers combined to first restrict RR to 144.
Sam Curran, who picked up 2 for 24, led PBKS’ charge with the bat with an unbeaten 63 to complete the chase with seven balls and five wickets to spare. That, after PBKS had slipped to 48 for 4 in eight overs. Sam Curran’s heroics spoiled local boy Riyan Parag’s day, who scored 48, exactly one-third of RR’s total.
Pitch and Toss
3th venue of the season, the most in an IPL season. This has traditionally been a very high scoring venue, with 63m and 60m side boundaries, with the straight boundary at 73m. We are playing on a black soil pitch which is firm and rolled nicely. Surely a surface on which a lot of runs can be scored.
The pitch has a few cracks but it generally plays much better than the looks. Last year, both games here were won by the side batting first. Teams prefer doing that because when you are chasing, you are under pressure, but in an India Australia game at this venue, Australia chased a huge score of 222 in the last over. Irrespective on when you bat, there are a lot of runs to be had here reckons Deep Dasgupta and WV Raman
RR skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and chose to bat first with one change in the squad as Jos Buttler was replaced by Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Donovan Ferreira was named as Impact Substitute. PBKS skipper Sam Curran bowling first also brings in Nathan Ellis for Kagiso Rabada and Harpreet Brar in to the squad.
Sam Curran rings in the changes as RR were slow off the blocks once more
The Royals were guilty of a slow start in their last game in Chennai and that malaise followed them to Guwahati where after opting to bat, they managed 38/1 in the PowerPlay. Yashasvi Jaiswal struck a four off the first ball of the innings and was cleaned up by an excellent inswinger three balls later. Tom Kohler-Cadmore, replacing Jos Buttler, and Sanju Samson struck a handful of boundaries but the Englishman played as many as 14 dot balls and struggled to force the pace on a pitch that played slowly.
Sanju Samson had opted to bat in the first game at the Barsapara Stadium this IPL. And after four overs, the game wasn’t going either ways, with RR on 31 for 1. Curran had Yashasvi Jaiswal chopping on off the fourth ball of the day after the first one was driven through cover for four.
Samson hit three boundaries off his first eight balls, with a punch off Arshdeep Singh from the full face of the bat. At the other end, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who came in for Jos Buttler, had started rather sedately.
Sam Curran then introduced Nathan Ellis for the fifth over. Ellis bowled cutters on a slow pitch where the ball seemed to stop, and even banged some on a hard length to test the batters. And that is when RR slowed down. The next 3.2 overs went for only 11 runs, with both Samson and Kohler-Cadmore departing for 18.
Parag, Ashwin fight in middle overs as wickets fall in a glut for RR
The final two overs of the PowerPlay, bowled by Nathan Ellis – in for the injured Kagiso Rabada – brought only seven runs. And that meant the Royals entered the middle-overs needing to kick on. Samson, looking to give the scoring rate a push, perished when his attempted cut shot went straight to backward point. Kohler-Cadmore tried to take down Rahul Chahar in the leg spinner’s first over and holed out to long-on for a painstaking 23-ball 18.
The Royals promoted R. Ashwin up the order to disrupt bowling plans and inject some momentum into the innings and the veteran spinner largely succeeded in this endeavour by hitting Chahar for a six and a pair of boundaries before falling to Arshdeep Singh for a 19-ball 28. Punjab Kings continued to keep the pressure on. Dhruv Jurel fell for a golden duck while Rovman Powell chipped a simple catch back to Chahar, who finished with excellent returns of 2 for 26
PBKS bowled ten dot balls in three overs, starting with the sixth one. While Ellis and Harshal Patel used the variations to great effect, Rahul Chahar found turn. With two right-hand batters in Parag and R Ashwin at the crease, Sam Curran gave the ninth over to left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar. But Ashwin managed a streaky boundary to get ten off the over.
RR had only 68 on the board after 11 overs, when Ashwin counterattacked. He slogged Chahar over midwicket for six, before reverse sweeping and lofting him over the covers for four. But Arshdeep ended Ashwin’s party in the next over by having him caught at deep point after an entertaining 28 from 19 balls.
Parag, though, continued to fight, even as RR were 102 for 6 midway into the 15th over. By then, Sam Curran had removed Dhruv Jurel for a duck, while Chahar had Rovman Powell caught and bowled for 4. The death overs (17-20) began with RR on 113, before Parag walloped and sliced Arshdeep for consecutive fours.
Harshal Patel keeps flourish in check as RR was restricted to 144 for 9.
The Royals were forced to bring in Donovan Ferreira as an impact substitute to rescue their tottering innings but he didn’t last too long and fell to a fine catch at long-off from Rilee Rossouw off the bowling of Harshal Patel. Hometown hero Riyan Parag struck a pair of boundaries off Arshdeep Singh while Trent Boult picked a boundary brace himself off Ellis to push the total a little further.
Parag fell LBW to Harshal’s patented dipping slower ball in the final over while Boult was run-out off the last ball of the innings as the Royals fell short of the 150 mark. Harshal Patel finished with figures of 2 for 28 and reclaimed the Purple Cap. PBKS denied Parag the strike in the entire 19th over. Come the 20th, Harshal trapped Parag for 48 with his trademark dipping, slow full toss, as the Purple Cap switched heads again, with Harshal finishing the day on 22 wickets, two ahead of Jasprit Bumrah.
Avesh Khan double dents PBKS in the Powerplay
Punjab Kings raced off the blocks on the hunt of 145 but ended up with a worse PowerPlay than their hosts. Trent Boult took a sixth first-over wicket of the season by dismissing Prabhsimran Singh but post that early setback, Rilee Rossouw hit five boundaries and by the end of four overs, PBKS were scoring at nearly nine runs to the over.
Then their world turned in an over bowled by Avesh Khan. Rossouw sliced a full ball straight to backward point to fall for a 13-ball 22. Two balls later, Shashank Singh was trapped plumb in front of the stumps after missing a flick to a full ball.
Sam Curran, Jitesh rebuild after jitters in middle overs
The threat for PBKS post PowerPlay was RR’s double-barreled spin attack. Yuzvendra Chahal struck early to win his match-up battle against Jonny Bairstow for the fourth time in IPL history. That brought together captain Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma. The two hunkered down to build a partnership. Jitesh put away a short ball from Ashwin for a six to signal the turnaround. Another boundary came via Sam Curran’s inside-edge in the next over.
Avesh returned for an over in the middle in search of a wicket. He didn’t get it but gave away just three runs. And it was back to the spinners. Sam Curran stepped up by hitting Chahal and Ashwin for a four each in otherwise good overs. Momentum turned for good in the 15th over when both batters hit Ashwin for a six each, bringing the equation down to 42 off 30.
No. 6 Jitesh Sharma had joined Sam Curran at the crease after RR slowed the chase down. Despite Rilee Rossouw counterattacking after the early loss of Prabhsimran Singh – it was an IPL record 28th time that Trent Boult had struck in the first over – RR had PBKS at 37 for 3 after five overs. When Yuzvendra Chahal had Jonny Bairstow caught at long-on for a scratchy 14 off 22, PBKS were reeling at 48 for 4.
But Jitesh and Sam Curran didn’t allow RR to run away with the game just yet. Jitesh pulled his second ball for six, before Sam Curran managed a lucky four off the bottom edge off Chahal. They kept ticking over singles while also finding the occasional boundary, with Sam Curran swiping Chahal wide of long-on, swatting Ashwin to deep extra cover, and whipping Boult behind square, all in consecutive overs.
No late jitters as cool Curran closes it out for PBKS with a win over RR
The required rate had risen up to 9.33 an over with six overs left, when both Jitesh and Sam Curran pumped a six each off Ashwin. But Jitesh was caught off Chahal in the next over, before PBKS brought on Ashutosh Sharma as an Impact Sub, and the match was soon over. Ashutosh ramped Avesh for four, before Sam Curran and Ashutosh smashed three sixes in the space of five balls to level scores and soon seal victory.
Jitesh fell to Chahal having added 63 runs for the fifth wicket but Sam Curran and Ashutosh Sharma ensured there were no further jitters for Punjab by taking calculated risks. Following Jitesh’s dismissal, the next nine balls brought only six runs before Ashutosh ramped a short ball from Avesh over the ‘keeper’s head for four.
Sam Curran, who reached a 38-ball half-century in the 18th over, then pulled Sandeep Sharma for a six to effectively shut the chase. He hit another six off Avesh before Ashutosh helped himself to a six of his own to close out the chase with seven balls to spare.
Presentations and Road Ahead.
Sanju Samson the loosing skipper said :
“We needed a few more runs. I think we were 10-15 runs short. It was a 160 kind of a wicket. We would have easily got more than 160 (had we played better), that’s where we lost the game. Would have been nice to have one more bowling option. I am getting used to five quality bowlers. We have to sit back and accept that we are going through failures, have lost four games on the trot. Got to find out what’s not working out for us as a team,”
“Somebody needs to step up, we have so many match-winners in the team. This is the time we need to show character. We need to score more runs. We thought 160-170 would have been a good score. We are not used to playing on such wickets this season where 200-plus totals are getting scored easily. We had to play smart cricket and build those partnerships today. Hopefully the result goes in our way (in the upcoming games.)” he added.
Sam Curran the winning skipper and Player of the Match for his all round performance said :
“We bowled really well as a group. Message was that we had a lot of pride to play for. Ellis was absolutely amazing in his first game of the season. Probably should’ve played him earlier. When I went in, Jonny said it was quite tough. It was holding a little bit. Didn’t need to take too much risk. Knew on a ground like this, we just needed a couple of sixes,”
“Me and Jonny are leaving tomorrow. Obviously nice. Have thoroughly enjoyed the season, have enjoyed captaining. Atmosphere around the group has been really good. Excited about the World Cup. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We had so many close games,” he stated.
“Feel like the team is close to something. Who knows what the future holds. Loads of positives. The chase in Kolkata. The way Shashank Singh has come into the team is amazing. Ashutosh as well. Harshal and Arshdeep have bowled well,” he added.
Another blow for Royals in their quest to seal a place in the top two. They might’ve made it to the playoffs but their form has completely gone downhill in the last couple of weeks with this being their fourth consecutive defeat. Punjab Kings, meanwhile, notch up another win on the road. Most of their success this season has come away from home and again today they put on a superb performance to come up trumps. Restricting the Royals to 144 was an excellent effort, even as the pitch was on the slower side.
However, the chase wasn’t straightforward. In fact, they seemed to be in big trouble at 48/4, but a superb knock from captain Sam Curran led the way as he struck an unbeaten 63 to guide his team to victory with some help from Ashutosh Sharma towards the end. There’s a lot to be concerned about for the Royals heading into the playoffs. Their form has deserted them and a top-two finish is no longer in their hands as SRH will probably jump over them if they win their remaining matches.
Form can change quickly in T20s, and in a league like IPL the non-stop action can quickly turn the tide too. Rajasthan Royals (RR) became the second team to prove that in this IPL after Royal Challengers Bengaluru. But unlike RCB, who have won five matches straight, RR have now lost four in a row after winning as many on the bounce to hurt their chances of a top-two finish.
Rajasthan Royals will stay back in Guwahati for a final day clash against the already-qualified KKR. The Kings travel south to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the afternoon clash on Sunday.