Punjab Kings beat Rajasthan Royals by 5 wickets
Skipper Sam Curran starred with bat and ball in his last match of this IPL season as Punjab Kings beat Rajasthan Royals by five wickets for a consolation win.
Chasing a tricky 145 on a sluggish pitch, Punjab depended on Curran’s unbeaten 63 to achieve their target with seven balls to spare in Rajasthan’s adopted home ground in Guwahati.
Left-handed Curran put on a key 63-run stand with Jitesh Sharma, who made 22, and despite losing his partner in the 16th over, steered the team home to lift them from the bottom of the 10-team table.
Curran, who took over as Punjab captain midway this season after regular skipper Shikhar Dhawan was injured, and teammate Jonny Bairstow will depart for England on Thursday in preparation for the T20 World Cup in June.
“Me and Jonny are leaving tomorrow,” player of the match Curran said.
“Obviously, it’s nice. I have thoroughly enjoyed the season and captaining. The atmosphere around the group has been really good. I’m excited about the World Cup.”
Most of the England players in the IPL, including Rajasthan’s Jos Buttler, have already left home ahead of four T20 matches against Pakistan, which are a tune-up for the World Cup in the West Indies and the US.
Impact substitute Ashutosh Sharma smashed 17, and the winning run handed Rajasthan their fourth successive defeat in this edition of the T20 tournament.
“To be very honest, we have to sit back and accept that we are going through some failures,” Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson said.
“You must find out what’s not working well as a team. When you get to the business end, we need someone to raise their finger up and say, ‘I am going to win the game for the team.’ We have the players who can do that.”
Rajasthan’s loss hurt their chances of a top-two finish in the league a day after they confirmed their play-off spot.
Rajasthan Royals, who stay in second place with one game in hand, and table-toppers Kolkata Knight Riders are the only two teams to have booked their playoff berth.
The top four teams make the playoffs, but the first and second-placed sides have the advantage of two chances to qualify for the final on May 26 in Chennai.
Punjab, who had already withdrawn from the playoff race, kept the opposition down to 144-9 despite Riyan Parag’s 34-ball 48.
Left-arm quick Curran bowled Yashasvi Jaiswal for four in the first over, and then Samson departed for 18 off Nathan Ellis after a slow start.
Parag found Ravichandran Ashwin, who hit 28 off 19 balls, for company, and the two attempted to increase their partnership’s score to 50.
The rest of the batting faltered against a disciplined attack, as Curran, fellow quick Harshal Patel, and spinner Rahul Chahal each took two wickets.