Celebrations had begun among the Punjab Kings spectators at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, in Chandigarh, with franchise co-owner Preity Zinta, who was present at the venue, leading the proceedings. The Bollywood actress was elated as stand-in skipper Sam Curran picked two wickets in his penultimate over of the match to send Rajasthan Royals seven down before the start of the final over. However, Zinta’s celebrations were cut short in a span of just five deliveries as Shimron Hetmyer clobbered two sixes in three balls to crush PBKS’ hopes in the thriller.
Rajasthan were always the firm favourites in the run chase despite Ashutosh Sharma, who came in as an Impact Player at No. 8, smashing 31 off just 16 balls to take the team’s total close to 150. In response, the visitors never lost a wicket in the powerplay, but managed only 38 runs in that phase with Tanush Kotian, primarily a tailender who was promoted as an opener, visibly struggling with the bat.
Rajasthan managed to get the asking rate under check after Kotian’s dismissal in the ninth over before Kagiso Rabada picked two quick wickets to help Punjab fight back valiantly. Rajasthan was never allowed to settle in therafter as wickets kept tumbling at both ends, leaving the table-toppers with 33 to chase in the last 16 balls, with five wickets in hand.
Hetmyer and Rovman Powell then smashed 18 runs in four balls to reduce the equation to 12 off 10 before Curran struck in the 19th over with two wickets, leaving Zinta ecstatic. And she looked confident that her team would claim a third win in the ongoing season as Arshdeep Singh geared up for the final over against Hetmyer.
The left-armer raised Zinta’s hopes after bowling two back-to-back yorkers for no run, but the celebrations ended after Hetmyer shimmied down the track to clobber the half-volley for a flat six over long-on. A fumble from Curran in the deep, handed Hetmyer to sneak two runs on the next ball before the West Indies batter whipped the high full toss over fine leg for a six in the penultimate ball of the over to get RR past the finish line.
Zinta was left tensed before that last ball was bowled and later heartbroken as PBKS incurred their fourth loss in the ongoing season, which left them eighth in the points table.
“The wicket was slightly slow, but we didn’t start well with the bat and didn’t finish well in the end. It was a good effort from the lower order, getting (close) to 150 was excellent, the bowling was good, we kept them down, unfortunately another close loss. We stuck to our plans, bowled and fielded well, but I’m confident we’ll bounce back in the next game,” Curran said after the match.
