With their seventh win, Rajasthan moved up to fifth place in the table as their fate now rests on their other results if they are to make it to the round of 16. Punjab, on the other hand, is now knocked out of the top four race after Shikhar Dhawan and co. they received their eighth loss of the season.
Chasing a difficult 188 for victory on a Dharamsala friendly track, 1950s Devdutt Padikkal AND Yashasvi Jaiswal and a 46 to 28-ball rapid-fire Shimron Hetmyer he helped the Royals cross the line with 2 balls to spare.
Sent into bat, PBKS were reeling to 50 for four but Sam Curran (49 not out) and Jitesh Sharma (44 off 28 balls) revived the innings while M Shahrukh Khan (41 not out) provided the final surge to fuel the team to 187 for 5.
It happened
A target of 188 was never going to be easy and RR needed to complete the chase in 18.3 overs to momentarily surpass Royal Challengers Bangalore’s net runrate, but they fell short.
But RR still got two runs to stay afloat with Jaiswal (50 from 36) writing the chase, adding 73 from 49 with Padikkal (51 from 30) and another 47 from 22 with Shimron Hetmyer (46) as RR bowled in 19.4 overs.
With the win, RR moved to fifth place with 14 points, like RCB (4th) and Mumbai Indians (6th), who both have one game left to play in the league stage.
The leak meant PBKS is officially out of the IPL.
Chasing 188, RR suffered an early setback with Kagiso Rabada getting Jos Buttler LBW for his third duck.
But Padikkal and Jaiswal batted to take RR to 85 for 1 from 9.4 overs.
As Jaiswal started the chase with a hat-trick of fours, Padikkal, who was promoted up the order, then took the charge, sending the bowlers chasing for leather.
But RR lost Padikkal and skipper Sanju Samson (3) in quick succession to leave them at 90 for 3 in the 11th over.
Jaiswal then found a perfect match in Hetmyer, who slipped into the aggressor with three sixes early.
Jaiswal completed his fifty in 35 balls before falling to a reverse stroke from Nathan Ellis.
With Jaiswal and Padikkal departing after completing their fifties, RR still needed 51 from 33 balls and it was Riyan Parag (20 from 12 balls) who slammed back-to-back sixes off Rabada to lower the equation.
But PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan pulled off a sensational catch to end Hetymer’s stay even as RR brought in Dhruv Jurel as an impact substitute, who hit a six off the fourth ball of the last over to take out the winning runs.
Previously, PBKS trailed by 50 for 4 in 6.3 overs but Curran and Jitesh added 64 to resurrect the innings with the latter being the aggressor.
Curran and Shahrukh then amassed 73 off 37 balls, with 46 coming off the last 2 overs to bring them to a good score.
It was the penultimate over which proved to be a turning point with Yuzvendra Chahal who had conceded 12 runs in his first three overs went for 28 runs with Curran and Shahrukh producing some clinical shots.
Shahrukh then milked Trent Boult (1/35) for 18 runs as the last five overs yielded 70 runs.
Forced into the XI with R Ashwin’s back spasm, Adam Zampa finished with 1 for 26, while Navdeep (3/40) collected three wickets but Sandeep Sharma had a forgettable out to lose 46.
Boult blocked PBKS early, dismissing Prabhsimran Singh (2) with a caught and bowled effort, but Dhawan (17) and Atharva Taide (19) singled some bounds as they were 38 for 1 from 3.3 overs.
However, playing in just his second match, Navdeep broke the partnership with Atharva (19) by bowling out at midwicket after hitting back-to-back fours.
Boult and Zampa each conceded only 3 runs in the next two overs which put pressure on Dhawan who was then trapped by Zampa up front.
Liam Livingstone was Saini’s second victim as PBKS slipped to 50 for 4.
However, after the strategic timeout, Jitesh switched gears, smashing Sandeep Sharma for two tops before hitting Zampa through deep extra cover.
Saini was next in his line of fire, cutting one to the toe before smoking it on deep extra cover. A short ball was subsequently hammered across the mid-wicket region. However, a slower delivery did the trick with Jitesh looking for extra coverage.
Shahrukh then linked up with Curran but they initially failed to find the big hits before exploding in the 19th on a pass from Chahal.
The first two balls were sent in for a four and a six by Shahrukh before Curran got the upper hand, hitting two sixes and a four to put PBKS over 150. Shahrukh then blasted a six and four to finish him off in style.
(With inputs from PTI)
