Mullanpur: Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings by three wickets in their IPL match here Saturday.
Asked to bat first, Punjab Kings, who played without their injured skipper Shikhar Dhawan, didn’t get any momentum in their innings with lower-order batter Ashutosh Sharma (31), Jitesh Sharma (29) and Liam Livingstone (21) managing to take the team close to the 150-mark.
In reply, RR huffed and puffed their way to the victory target of 148 with a ball to spare, thanks to Shimron Hetmyer’s 10-ball 27 after Yashasvi Jaiswal (39), Tanush Kotian (24), Riyan Parag (23) frittered away starts.
Kagiso Rabada (2/18) was the best bowler for Punjab with his two wickets.
For RR, Keshav Maharaj (2/23) and Avesh Khan (2/34) picked up two wickets each, while Trent Boult (1/22), Kuldeep Sen (1/35) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/31) bagged one each.
Brief Scores:
PBKS: 147 for 8 in 20 overs (Ashutosh Sharma 31; Keshav Maharaj 2/23).
RR: 152 for 7 in 19.5 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 39; Shimron Hetmyer 27; Kagiso Rabada 2/18).
PTI
