Punjab Kings stave off Samson onslaught to win cliffhanger against Rajasthan Royals

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Mumbai: Chasing the target of 222, Rajasthan Royal was looking for a good start at the top of the innings from openers Ben Stokes and Manan Vohra. However, veteran Indian seamer – Mohammed Shami was up to the task of removing Stokes (0 off 3 balls) on the third ball of the innings while left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh took a sharp catch off his own bowling to dismiss Vohra for 12 off 8 balls.

The chase truly picked momentum during the Samson-Buttler partnership for the 4th wicket as runs started to flow from both ends. Buttler welcomed Aussie speedster Riley Meredith, bought for Rs 8 crores by Punjab Kings, with 4 fours of his first four balls. Meredith’s pace proved to be a boon for both Samson and Buttler as they smashed their way through to 59 in the power-play. Though his fellow Aussie seamer Jhye Richardson (bought for Rs 14 crores), bowled Buttler (25 off 13 balls) but kept leaking runs from the other end as well.

The Aussie duo of Richardson and Meredith gave away runs at the economy rate of 13.75 and 12.25 respectively, off their combined 8 overs and picked up one wicket each. For consolation, Meredith did create a chance to dismiss Samson but was dropped by Mayank Agarwal at the long-off on the score of 35.

Riding his luck, Samson dominated PBKS bowling, ably supported by cameos from Shivam Dube (23 off 15 balls) and Riyan Prayag (25 off 11 balls).

As the required run-rate behaved like inflation and kept rising, Riyan Parag and Samson smashed 20 runs off M Ashwin’s last over to bring it under control. But yet again Shami came to the rescue to dismiss Parag for 25 (3 sixes and 1 four).

At the fall of Rahul Tewatia’s wicket on 201, all hopes were pinned on Samson and Chris Morris – bought for Rs 16 crore by RR. But Morris looked out of touch with the bat and was able to score only 2 runs off 4 balls leaving too much to do for Samson. Needing 13 runs off the last over, Samson did manage to hit a six off the 4th ball but sensible death bowling by 22 years old Arshdeep Singh rescued the day for Punjab Kings.

Earlier in the match IPL’s biggest buy Chris Morris had an average outing with the ball too. He gave away 41 runs off his 4 overs and picked up 2 wickets courtesy of some good catching by Parag and Sakaria.

However, uncapped Indian players Chetan Sakariya and Riyan Parag bowled brilliantly while their more experienced colleagues were taken to the cleaners by some fearless batting by Punjab Kings batsmen. Sakariya ended with the figures of 3 for 31 of his 4 overs, while Riyan Parag picked up the crucial wicket of Chris Gayle in his solitary over by giving away only 7 runs.

Gayle looked like the only overseas player who had a crucial impact on the game. In his swashbuckling style, the universal boss scored 40 off just 28 balls with 4 fours and 2 gigantic sixes, taking his tally of IPL sixes to 351. Upon his dismissal, Deepak Hooda joined KL Rahul for a partnership of 105 runs that broke the determination of RR bowlers. Hooda smashed 6 sixes and 4 fours to score 64 of just 28 balls.

A total of 24 sixes were scored during the match, 13 by PBKS and 11 by RR. Out of which 22 were scored by Indian players. The story is similar in terms of wickets as well. Out of the total 13 wickets that fell during the match 9 were taken by Indian bowlers.

Given the performance on display by Indian players, the question remains whether such huge amounts should be spent on buying overseas players or it should be invested in developing Indian talents for the big stage and provide them with better pay.

In their next match, PBKS faces CSK on 16th April, while RR will be up against DC on 15th April at the same venue.