Royals give Kings reality check

The return of Sanju Samson as the team’s skipper worked wonders for Rajasthan Royals as they hammered Punjab Kings by 50 runs in the Indian Premier League at Mullanpur.

After scoring 205/4, the visitors kept Punjab to 155/9. Nothing worked for the Kings during their chase but the partnership between Nehal Wadhera (62 off 41 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (30 off 21 balls) as the duo braved the Royals’ attack to keep Punjab in the fight.

The Royals performed well with both bat and ball to give the Kings a reality check. The Kings have now won only two of their last 15 home games.

Despite it being the highest total at this ground, it was not going to be easy to defend the target for the Royals, given the conditions and the depth in the Kings’ batting. However, English pacer Jofra Archer got to work right away. A stunning 144.6kph thunderbolt sent back Kings’ Impact Player Priyansh Arya on the first ball of Punjab’s chase. The opener, who had posted an impressive 47 off 23 against Gujarat Titans, failed to read the delivery that scattered his bails.

Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer joined the crease and hit Archer for two fours but the pacer had the last laugh. Iyer gave himself room to play a big shot but missed Archer’s full delivery that rammed into the stumps. Struggling at 11/2, there was more bad news for the home side as Marcus Stoinis (1) was caught by Sandeep Sharma off his own bowling. Local boy Prabhsimran Singh — who had scored 69 off 34 in their last outing against Lucknow Super Giants — was playing well until his mis-hit off Impact Player Kumar Kartikeya landed in the safe hands of Wanindu Hasaranga.

At 43/4, the Kings’ innings was revived by Wadhera and Maxwell with an 88-run stand off 52 balls. However, with the required run-rate climbing, Maxwell perished in an effort to clear the rope with Yashasvi Jaiswal taking an easy catch off the bowling of Maheesh Theekshana. Off the very next ball, Wadhera also exited after Dhruv Jurel took a stunning catch off Hasaranga. The Kings’ innings had nothing left in the tank after the fall of these two wickets as they accepted their first defeat of the season.

Earlier, Jaiswal (67 off 45 balls) scored his first half-century of this IPL to give RR the perfect start. Jaiswal and Samson (38 off 26 balls) were right on the mark with an 89-run stand in 10 overs. Lockie Ferguson dismissed the skipper, whose poorly-timed shot went right in the hands of Iyer at mid-off. Samson threw his bat in frustration.

While the Kings were celebrating the skipper’s wicket, Jaiswal continued. The 23-year-old, who had endured a lean patch in the opening three games with scores of 1, 29 and 4, roared back to form with a fluent half-century. However, he fell going after Ferguson, missing a well-disguised slower delivery that rattled his stumps.

Nitish Rana (12) got out cheaply but Shimron Hetmyer (20 off 12 balls) and Riyan Parag (43 off 25 balls) provided the late fireworks to lift the Royals past the 200-mark. The Royals plundered 55 runs in the final three overs to finish strongly.

“I thought that we would be conceding around 180-185 — that would have been a great total to chase,” Iyer said.

“We gave away a few extra runs, were not able to execute according to our plans. Glad that the defeat happened at the start of the season. It was a decent pitch to bat on, it was holding a bit. We were trying to hit the deck and not give them much pace. We could have built a few partnerships and taken it a little slow, rather than over-attacking. Many things to learn from this game.”

Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals: 205/4 in 20 overs (Jaiswal 67, Parag 43*, Samson 38; Ferguson 2/37); Punjab Kings: 155/9 in 20 overs (Wadhera 62, Maxwell 40; Archer 3/25, Sharma 2/21, Theekshana 2/26)

Sports