Watch cricket video highlights between Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings. Indian Premier League 2024 twenty seventh match, played at Mullanpur.
With the Rajasthan Royals needing 35 from 20, Shimron Hetmyer entered the game. Considering that Punjab Kings’ 147 for 8 felt at least 10 runs too light on a pitch with little bounce but no known witchcraft applied to it, maybe it shouldn’t have gotten this close. Additionally, it appeared from the Royals’ own strong, if not raging, 56-run opening stand that they weren’t worried.
However, Kagiso Rabada bowled his four overs for eighteen, and all of a sudden the match was tight in the latter stages. Rabada was contributing as much as many Kings players in terms of producing a game-winning hand since he had also claimed two significant wickets, those of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson. Hetmyer, however, had the last say as he won with a six off the final ball despite a strong penultimate over from Sam Curran and a solid effort from Arshdeep Singh. Hetmyer had already given up two sixes before then.
The Royals needed 10 runs from the 20th over after Sam Curran removed Rovman Powell and Keshav Maharaj in the 19th over despite giving up just 10. It always looked plausible because Hetmyer was on strike, but Arshdeep came up with two great yorkers the first time around, which the batter was unable to convert, and the score was reduced to 10 off four. Hetmyer’s frantic smash down the ground off the third ball proved to be the crucial stroke in the last over. This was not exactly in the blockhole, but Arshdeep had not missed his length by much. Hetmyer delivered a powerful swing that sent the ball onto the boundary cushion rather than over it and back behind the bowler.
It was only centimeters. Hetmyer would not have been able to get beneath Arshdeep’s pitch if it had been a little bit fuller. If Hetmyer hadn’t struck it with a tad less force, the shot would have only brought four, and the last two would have needed to bring six. The final ball in Arshdeep’s over was the worst; nearly anybody might have hit it for a boundary. Hetmyer muscled a ball towards long on and got two next. This arrived on the stumps, juicy, and knee-high. Claiming a thriller, Hetmyer moved over and thwacked it over deep fine leg.
Rabada was fierce in defence of a little objective. He bowled two tight powerplay overs in which just 12 runs were made. Then, with the Kings chasing wickets, he bowled aggressively in the middle overs. When the batsman jagged one back to strike the batter on the back leg, he took the valuable wicket of Royals skipper Samson. He next dismissed Jaiswal with a short wide one that the batter toe-edged. Rabada only gave up two boundaries in his innings taken, which matched his total.
Kings never appeared to be able to get into high gear until the final two overs, when Impact Sub Ashutosh Sharma took advantage of a let-off to knock 20 off the final nine balls he faced. Every time it appeared that a partnership may be developing, a wicket fell. This happened frequently as a result of hitters falling for cross-bat swings to short balls that became large on them. After the powerplay, they were 38 for 1, 53 for 4, and 86 for 5 after 15 overs. From then on, Ashutosh, Rabada, and Curran performed admirably to turn this into such a close game.
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