Dharamsala: Sam Curran (49 not out) and Jitesh Sharma (44) revived the innings while M Shahrukh Khan (41 not out) provided the late surge to power Punjab Kings to a competitive 187 for 5 against Rajasthan Royals in their final IPL league match here Friday.
Asked to take the first strike, PBKS were down 50 for 4 but Curran and Jitesh added 64 to resurrect the innings.
The England all-rounder and Shahrukh then piled up 73 off 37 balls with 46 of them coming off the last 2 overs to take them to a good score.
Trent Boult pegged PBKS back, dismissing Prabhsimran Singh (2) with a caught and bowl effort in the second ball but Shikhar Dhawan (17) and Atharva Taide (19) kept dealing in boundaries as they were looking good at 38 for 1 in 3.3 overs.
A 16-run blitz from Dhawan against Sandeep Sharma in the second over was followed by another 12 run over with Boult at the receiving end this time as Atharva sent him sailing over deep backward square leg and Dhawan picked one four across the cover point area.
Playing only his second game, Navdeep Saini (4/40) broke the partnership with Atharva Taide (19) holing out at midwicket after hitting successive fours.
Boult and Zampa conceded just 3 runs each in the next two overs which put Dhawan under pressure and he was then beaten on length when he tried to play a sweep with Zampa trapping him in front.
Liam Livingstone then became Saini’s second victim, leaving the stumps in disarray after the batter went for an aggressive swing as PBKS slipped to 50 for 4 in 6.3 overs.
Overs 5 to 9 yielded just 20 runs as PBKS lost two wickets.
After the strategic timeout, Jitesh changed gears, smashing Sandeep Sharma for two maximums over long-off before thumping Zampa across the deep extra cover.
Saini was next in his firing line, slicing one across point before smoking him over deep extra cover. A short ball was next hammered across the mid-wicket region.
However, a slower delivery did the trick with Jitesh holing out at extra cover.
With Jitesh in full flow, PBKS scored 53 runs in 5 overs from overs 10 to 14 to provide a perfect launchpad for next man Shahrukh Khan.
But Shahrukh and Curran couldn’t find the big hits initially and it was only when skipper Sanju Samson decided to bowl Yuzvendra Chahal the 19th over that PBKS exploded, milking the spinner for 28 runs.
The first two balls were sent for a four and six by Shahrukh before Curran took over, clobbering two sixes and a four to take PBKS across the 150-mark.
Shahrukh then blasted a six and four as Boult bled 18 runs in the last over.
PTI
