For the first time in this IPL, Punjab Kings were on the receiving end.
Last Saturday, against the Delhi Capitals in New Delhi, they chased down a 265-run target comfortably. But in Mullanpur on Tuesday, they failed to defend a 229-run target as Rajasthan Royals cruised to a six-wicket win to move up to third in the
standings.
The Kings, despite this loss, remain at the top with 13 points.
The defeat brings down the Kings from the realms of invincibility to the plains of uncertainty that define the IPL. While they can chase down a 260-plus target, they can also fail to defend a 220-plus total. Nothing is cast in stone.
On a surface where the ball gripped and provided the spinners with a bit of assistance, failure to defend a big total points at chinks in the armour.
The Kings, put into bat, posted 222/4, thanks to Marcus Stoinis’ late onslaught (62 not out off 22 balls). That, after the season’s fourth half-century from Prabhsimran Singh (59 off 44 balls) and his opening partner Priyansh Arya’s 29 off 11 balls. But the Royals, too, were off to a flier, thanks to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s 16-ball 43.
Courtesy Sooryavanshi, the Royals raced to 84/1 in the Powerplay.
The Kings’ pace trio of Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson — who returned to competitive cricket after over a month and replaced Australian Xavier Bartlett — and Marco Jansen kept bowling in Sooryavanshi’s arc and he smashed them gleefully, hitting three boundaries and five sixes. Fortunately for the Kings, the teenager couldn’t quite connect a low full toss from Arshdeep, which brought about his dismissal, as the home team heaved a huge sigh of relief.
But even after Sooryavanshi’s against-the-run-of-play ouster, the pressure was pretty much there on the Kings bowlers. Yashasvi Jaiswal, the other opener, ensured to convert his start to a 50-plus score, while skipper Riyan Parag (29 off 16 balls) did manage to hit two boundaries and as many sixes to maintain the tempo for his team in what has so far been a disappointing campaign for him with the bat.
Following Riyan’s dismissal, the task did become a tad tougher for the Royals as they then needed 72 off the remaining 36 balls. The Kings held the upper hand, but South African Donovan Ferreira turned out to be a big surprise element for the table-toppers.
Six fours and three maximums adorned his well-compiled innings of 52 not out (off 26 balls), while Impact Player Shubham Dubey (replacing leg-spinner Yash Raj Punja and scoring 31 not out off 12 balls) gave Ferreira superb support from the other end. The duo dispatched anything that was a bit loose in their unbroken stand of 77, which took the Royals home with four balls to spare.
Earlier, four boundaries and six maximums were part of Stoinis’ innings. Thanks to Stoinis, as many as 24 came off the final over of the Kings innings, which helped them cross 220. That didn’t look possible after the dismissal of skipper Shreyas Iyer, who wasn’t in his elements on Tuesday. Shreyas, having performed in every game so far, took 27 balls to get his 30 runs, managing just a boundary and a maximum.
Spinners shine
Young leg-spinner Punja, in only his second IPL appearance, did well to account for both Cooper Connolly and Prabhsimran. The 19-year-old was intelligent enough to take the pace off the ball to fox Prabhsimran at a critical phase for the Royals.
Kings’ spinners Yuzvendra Chahal (3/36) and Impact Player Harpreet Brar (0/25) also performed to dent the Royals’ progress. Chahal used his guile to dismiss Dhruv Jurel, Jaiswal and Riyan, which had pushed the Royals back in their chase to a certain extent.
But unfortunately for the Kings, Arshdeep, one of India’s premier T20 bowlers, and the experienced Ferguson and Jansen were clobbered for 166 off their cumulative 11.2 overs.
