Punjab Kings' Nathan Ellis [RR vs PBKS]
Punjab Kings' Nathan Ellis [PC: BCCI]

Sam Curran held his nerve and defended 15 runs in the final over to power Punjab Kings to a thrilling 5-run win over Rajasthan Royals at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati in IPL 2023. Set a target of 198, the Royals finished their innings on 192 for 7.

RR vs PBKS: RR innings:

Chasing 198, Rajasthan Royals began poorly and lost three wickets inside the powerplay. Their decision of promoting Ravichandran Ashwin as an opener backfired as the veteran spinner departed even before opening his account. Yashasvi Jaiswal (11) and Jos Buttler (19) got the starts but could not capitalize as the Royals found themselves 3 down for 57 in the 6th over.

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Captain Sanju Samson and Devdutt Padikkal steadied the ship before the former departed while trying to play a big shot. With Padikkal struggling to play at a good pace, Samson decided to take the risk and perished. The right-handed batsman departed for 42 off 25 balls.

Also Read: RR vs PBKS: Watch: Nathan Ellis’ Brilliant Diving Catch Off His Own Bowling To Dismiss Jos Buttler

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Riyan Parag started well, hitting two sixes and a four but he could not last long as he returned to the pavilion after scoring 20. 3 runs later, Padikkal departed too after scoring 21 off 24 balls to leave the Royals reeling at 124 for 6. But just when it looked like the match was well out of Royals’ reach, Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel revived their hopes.

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The duo played a string of big shots. collecting 16, 19, and 18 runs from the 17th, 18th, and 19th over respectively to bring down the equation to 16 runs from the last over. However, Sam Curran displayed his quality once again by conceding only 6 runs from the first 5 balls before conceding a 4 on the last ball when the Royals needed 10 runs.

Also Read: RR vs PBKS: Watch: Nathan Ellis’ Brilliant Diving Catch Off His Own Bowling To Dismiss Jos Buttler

RR vs PBKS: PBKS innings:

Earlier in the game, Punjab Kings rode on the fifties from their openers Prabhsimran Singh and Shikhar Dhawan to post a big total of 197 for 4 after being asked to bat first. Just like their previous game against Kolkata Knight Riders, Prabhsimran once again came out all guns blazing while Dhawan looked more than happy to play the role of the second fiddle.

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By the time the powerplay ended, PBKS had run away to 63 for no loss with Prabhsimran scoring 45 of them off just 23 balls. He went on to complete his fifty off just 28 balls. Jason Holder broke the opening stand of 90 runs by dismissing Prabhsimran for 60 runs. PBKS then suffered another blow when their in-form Sri Lankan star Bhanuka Rajapaksa had to retire hurt after facing just one ball.

Dhawan, however, remained firm at his end and went on to bat his team to a position of strength. He and Jitesh Sharma (27) added 68 runs for the second wicket before the latter was dismissed. Sikandar Raza (1) and Shahrukh Khan (11) could not do much with the bat but Dhawan remained till the end to help his team score 197. The veteran opener remained unbeaten on 86 off 56 balls with the help of 9 fours and 3 sixes.

Also Read: PBKS vs KKR: “He Started To Hit Me Straightaway So My Aggression Came Out” – Arshdeep Singh Explains His Death Stare To Anukul Roy

Brief scores:

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PBKS 197/4 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 86*; Jason Holder 2-29) beat RR 192/7 in 20 overs ( Sanju Samson 42; Nathan Ellis 4-30) by 5 runs.

Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah

Prince Singh is an Author and Editor at Cricketaddictor. Prince has been associated with the organisation for more than 5 years and in this time period, he has written close to 20000 articles for the website.