From Dharamshala Cricket Stadium not supported to PBKS: Two consecutive defeats at the same venue

Dharamshala Cricket Stadium is not supported to PBKS. They have lost in two matches in a row here. In the previous match they lost against Delhi Capitals and in last night’s match they lost against Rajasthan Royals by four wickets

Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings by 4 wickets at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamshala.

Chasing a target of 188 runs for victory, Rajasthan Royals overhauled the target with 4 wickets in hand and 2 balls to spare. Earlier, put into bat, Punjab Kings scored 187 losing 5 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.

Devdutt Padikkal scored 51 off 30 for Rajasthan while Sam Curran contributed an unbeaten 49 off 32 for Punjab. With this win, Rajasthan Royals kept its hopes alive to qualify for the knockout stage in the tournament.

They stuttered towards the end but have finally got home thanks to Dhruv Jurel’s six in the final over. The Impact Sub came in only after Riyan Parag was dismissed. The youngster managed to hit two sixes off Rabada even as Hetmyer proved to be the difference-maker in the end, powering boundaries through the offside at will.

His 46 gave RR a big boost. And even though they did not finish the chase within 18.3 overs (which would have taken them above RCB’s NRR), this still keeps them alive. Albeit with other results needing to go their way, with RCB not only losing but losing at a margin that would make them fall below RR’s NRR. For now, RR stay alive.

Both the half-centurions, Padikkal and Jaiswal have not been able to carry on after the milestone. Samson had fallen cheaply, getting caught on the sweep against Rahul Chahar.

But Jaiswal managed to keep RR going with his sixth half-century of the season. He also became the first uncapped Indian player to get to 600 runs in a season. He, however, is caught freakishly off a hard reverse sweep by Rishi Dhawan at short third. That has added another twist to this game.