IPL 2023: Punjab Kings defeat Rajasthan Royals by 5 runs

Punjab Kings defeated Rajasthan Royals by 5 runs in Guwahati on Wednesday thanks to stunning performances from Shikhar Dhawan (86 not out), Prabhsimran Singh (60) and Nathan Ellis (4 for 30). This was the second straight win for PBKS in IPL 2023; they had won their season opener against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali.

Shikhar Dhawan anchored the PBKS innings after Prabhsimran Singh laid the platform for the team with a rapid half-century. RR, runners-up in 2022, never really got going in their chase of 198 and their innings was totally dismantled by Nathan Ellis who picked the wickets of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag and Devdutt Padikkal.

PBKS deserve all the credit for their victory but Rajasthan Royals will reflect on some strange decision-making. They sent R Ashwin to open the innings and Shimron Hetmyer was sent in to bat at No.7 even with the asking rate climbing steeply. He came out and smashed 36 off 18 balls and added 67 off 22 balls with RR's Impact Player Dhruv Jurel but their fireworks were not enough.

In a bizarre move, Rajasthan Royals sent R Ashwin to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jos Buttler was possibly nursing an injury after taking a catch in the final over of the innings but he was seen padded up in the dug-out. Even if Buttler was injured, RR could have sent Sanju Samson or Devdutt Padikkal ahead of R Ashwin.

Anyway, Arshdeep Singh did not give the Royals much time to think. He struck twice in consecutive overs to remove Jaiswal and Ashwin. Jos Buttler came in at No.3 but he did not look as fluent as he normally does. A fantastic return catch by Nathan Ellis sent Buttler back for an 11-ball 19.

Sanju Samson was looking dangerous at the other end and the RR captain knew the onus was on him in a steep chase. Devdutt Padikkal was slow and the pressure began to grow on Samson. He hit a few delightful boundaries, smashed a six and tried to do as much as he could under the circumstances, as the required run-rate started to climb.

In a high chase, you need both batters to go at good strike rates but when one of them is hitting under 100, it makes things complicated for the other. That's what happened to Sanju Samson, who became Ellis's second wicket of the match.

Riyan Parag was sent up ahead of Shimron Hetmyer and he got off the mark with a six off Rahul Chahar in front of his home crowd. But he needed to do a lot more than his eventual 20 off 12 balls. Nathan Ellis, the pick of the PBKS bowlers, dismissed Parag to pick his third wicket of the evening. In the same over, Ellis dismissed Padikkal to leave the Royals reeling. The focus was now on Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel, the Impact players for the Royals. Why RR would send a dynamic T20 batter like Hetmyer at No.7 in a big run chase was again anyone's guess.

Shimron Hetmyer knew he had no other choice but to go for the big shots from the word go. And he did exactly that to bring the equation down to 34 runs off 12 balls for the Royals. Hetmyer



swung his bat at the slightest hint of a bowler missing his length. The PBKS bowlers made some errors and Hetmyer was only too happy to exploit those mistakes on a very good batting pitch. His partner at the other end, Dhruv Jurel, was equally impressive and took the burden off Hetmyer with some mind-boggling shots on his IPL debut.

It was the perfect partnership. Shimron Hetmyer hit Sam Curran for two sixes and a four in the 18th over while Jurel hit Arshdeep Singh for one six and two fours in the 19th over - RR needed 16 off the final over. Sam Curran, entrusted with the last over, did well and eventually ran Hetmyer out for 36 (18 balls). That brought to an end a thrilling partnersip of 62 off 27 balls with Jurel and a superb Curran over also sealed victory for Punjab.

It was no surprise when Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson won the toss and decided to bowl. And it was no surprise when Prabhsimran Singh tore into the RR bowling attack on a great batting surface. The 22-year-old PBKS opener was on fire, hitting boudaries at will as his partner and opening partner Shikhar Dhawan seemed only too happy to rotate the strike and let the younger man send the Royals on a leather hunt.

Prabhsimran Singh had shown promise even before this edition of the IPL. He had a solid domestic season and on Wednesday, he was phenomenal. Prabhsimran had smashed a rapid 23 in the first match of the season for PBKS and there was little doubt he would make the most of a good batting pitch in Guwahati.

Jason Holder stopped the onslaught with the wicket of Prabhsimran Singh in the 10th over but by then PBKS had raced away to 90. There was a further setback for Punjab when a full-blooded shot from Shikhar Dhawan hit Bhanuka Rajapaksa flush on his right arm. The Sri Lankan power-hitter had to walk off in pain but Jitesh Sharma came in all guns blazing and made up for a slow Dhawan at the other end.

Shikhar Dhawan broke the shackles with a six off Yuzvendra Chahal and there was no looking back for him. Dhawan went on to score his maiden fifty as PBKS captain and he joined David Warner and Virat Kohli as only the third IPL batter with 50 50+ scores.

The Dhawan-Jitesh stand had started to take dangerous proportions but Chahal struck to end the blossoming partnership. Jitesh Sharma hit a low full toss from Chahal to Riyan Parag in the deep and was on his way back to the dugout for a 16-ball 27.

Sikandar Raza, the next man in for PBKS, had no clue against R Ashwin's carrom ball and he was cleaned up for 1.

Shahrukh Khan came out ahead of Sam Curran and managed only 11 off 10 balls. Curran faced only two balls and that perhaps stopped PBKS from going past 200 which looked pretty achievable at one point.

However, the hero of the Punjab innings was undoubtedly Shikhar Dhawan who changed gears at crucial junctures and at one point, it looked like he might get to a well-deserved hundred. Dhawan finished with an unbeaten 86 off 56 balls.