Punjab Kings versus Rajasthan Royals thriller on Monday at Mumbai’s Wankhede was a proof of why IPL is called the world’s most exciting and biggest T20 league.
Captain’s from both the teams shined and took fans out of their Monday blues in the most fascinating fashion. Long story cut short, PBKS posted 221 for the loss of 6 wickets and RR were in need of 94 runs off 42 balls at one stage but Sanju Samson, the newly-appointed captain of the Royals made the match a last-ball thriller.
13 runs were needed off the last over. IPL 2021’s first centurion Sanju Samson and Chris Morris were on the crease. Two runs came off the first 3 balls before Samson tonked a six on the 4th. Now, with 5 needed of the last two, the Kerala-born hit an Arshdeep Singh delivery towards long-off but did not take any run, in fact he sent back IPL’s costliest buy Morris back inside his crease at the non-striker’s end.
On the last ball of the match, the RR skipper went for the glory shot but was caught at the deep cover boundary by Deepak Hooda. Samson got dismissed for 119 (63 balls) as Punjab won the match by 4 runs.
IPL 2020 had also seen Punjab being part of some nail-biting encounters including 2 Super Over matches. The franchise has undergone some makeovers coming in the 14th edition and has changed its name and jersey in quest for a better luck. Team’s captain KL Rahul has also admitted on record that Punjab were a bit ‘unlucky’ last year but the Wankhede thriller has left co-owner Preity Zinta ‘perplexed’ all over again.
Punjab captain KL Rahul and Arshdeep Singh, who bowled the final over of the match, talked about their high heart rates towards the end of the match.
“Heart rate was high but I didn’t stop believing. We knew a couple of wickets would bring us back. Till first 10-11 overs we bowled well. It was close because we dropped a few sitters, including me. As a bowling unit, we bowled as we planned. When you’re bowling against Sanju, it’s difficult,” KL Rahul said.
“Now it is beating pretty good. Before the last over, it was beating pretty fast. The plan was simple and it was to execute six balls wide outside off. I tried to york him. The only thing he could get was a four. But he got under one of those,” Arshdeep stated after the match.
PBKS will be hoping for an easy day at office when the meet Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday.
