The Shreyas Iyer-led side, Punjab Kings, has been portraying their batting masterclass throughout this season; however, despite a quick start, PBKS managed to put on a fighting total for their side against the Rajasthan Royals' attack, who did not let them dominate in the middle overs.
The Punjab Kings returned to their home ground at Mullanpur in New Chandigarh, which has been their home ground since the last season. The Punjab Kings come after a stunning win at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in the last game, where they broke their own record for the highest successful run chase as they chased a mammoth 265-run target.
Having maintained their undefeated streak, the Shreyas Iyer-led side is currently at the top of the points table, only 1 point short of 14, which is due to the rain gods favouring the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, which was the only game that PBKS finished without those 2 points. The runners-up of the last season are just a win away from securing their spot in the top four and hence the knockouts of this edition of the competition.
Priyansh Arya, the left-handed batter, has been a dangerous striker in the powerplay, often striking at over 250 in the restrictions. However, on this occasion he was troubled by the lethal fast bowler Jofra Archer, who also dismissed him after a 10-ball cameo of 29 runs.
Prabhsimrah Singh looked good as he scored another half-century, adding runs to the Kings unit, while Cooper Connolly played a handy knock of 30 as well. With the skipper Shreyas Iyer struggling in the middle phase, their runs tally fell behind the projected total.
However, Marcus Stoinis, who was promoted in the absence of Shashank Singh, played a fine knock in his first major outing for the Kings. Stonis smashed the likes of Nandre Burger, Jofra Archer, and Brijesh Sharma badly in the last three overs and took his team off to a solid 222 in their 20 overs.
Too many lose ends for PBKS bowlers, as Punjab Kings face first defeat for the season
Punjab Kings have been an exceptional batting side in this edition of the competition, and hence, they could maintain their winning streak so far in this season. However, they have suffered their first defeat of the season, ending their six-match winning streak.
Shreyas Iyer's side struggled to maintain the flow of runs in the powerplay, with young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi amassing many runs in the powerplay. Even after his dismissal Yashasvi Jaiswal continued the onslaught with the bat.
Punjab Kings spinners Harpreet Brar and Yuzvendra Chahal helped them seal the middle overs as they dismissed three batters and also did not leak a large amount of runs. However, the pace bowling trio leaked too many runs, with Arshdeep Singh leaking the most number of runs.
Donovan Ferriera finished the chase in some style and was named the player of the match for his match-winning half-century. However, impact player Shubham Dubey also backed him excellently with 31 runs off just 12 balls.
"Kudos to the batsmen," Shreyas Iyer praised the RR batters for their stunning innings
"I thought 224 on the board was a brilliant score. Kudos to the batsmen, the way they came up and they went against the bowlers. I think it was an exceptional performance, especially on this wicket, which was a bit tacky and slow," said the PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer.
"And I think we fell a bit short in our bowling, in terms of execution. We had planned to bowl a lot of slower ones, pace off, and yorkers. I think we fell a bit short over there. And also, they had a tremendous partnership in the middle, especially by Ferreira and Shubham Dubey coming in and scoring those crucial runs at the end," he added.
"I think it's important that we stick to the things that we've been doing, the routines and the processes that we've been following throughout. We had a match, we had to travel and then come and play another game."
"So I think the body was also a bit fatigued, but that can't be the reason over here. But we've got couple of days to refresh, go back to the drawing board and come back strong," he said on what could bring them back to winning ways.
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