Lucknow: Rajasthan Royals (RR) had a great start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. He had won 8 out of 9 matches in this tournament but in the last 4 matches his car has derailed from the track of victory. In fact, in the match played against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Guwahati on Wednesday, Punjab defeated Rajasthan by 5 wickets. With this he has handed Rajasthan their fourth consecutive defeat. In this match, RR had won the toss and decided to bat first but their batsmen proved to be a flop and could score only 144 runs at the loss of 9 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.
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Punjab bowlers performed brilliantly in this match and restricted the opposition team to within 150 runs. After this, while chasing the target, PBKS achieved it by losing 5 wickets in 18.5 overs. This defeat poses no threat to Rajasthan's path to the playoffs as they have already qualified but consecutive defeats like this before the knockout matches spoil the atmosphere of the team. Captain Sam Curran played a very important role in this chase for Punjab. Facing 41 balls, he played an unbeaten inning of 63 runs with the help of 5 fours and 3 sixes. It was the result of his innings that Punjab won.
Batting first, Rajasthan batsmen performed disappointingly. Captain Sanju Samson's bat once again remained silent and he could score only 18 runs in 15 balls. In this match, half of the RR team had returned to the pavilion within 100 runs. For the team captained by Sanju, young batsman Riyan Parag played an excellent innings and scored 48 runs in 34 balls. Apart from him, no other player could perform well and this was the reason why he could not score big.
Fast bowler Harshal Patel bowled brilliantly for Punjab and took 2 wickets while giving 28 runs in 4 overs. With this, he has left star pacer Jasprit Bumrah behind in the race for the Purple Cap. Apart from him, captain Karan and star spinner Rahul Chahar also took 2 wickets each. At one time in this match, Punjab team seemed to be in trouble and they had lost 4 wickets for 48 runs. However, after this they won on the basis of an excellent half-century innings by the captain.
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