Jaiswal, Hetmyer shine as RR beat PBKS

Mumbai, May 7: Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 68 off 41 and Shimron Hetmyer’s unbeaten 31 off 16 helped Rajasthan Royals (RR) to beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 6 wickets in the IPL 2022 match here at Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Riding on Jonny Bairtow’s 56 off 40 and Jitesh Sharma’s 38 not out off 18, PBKS posted 189/5. In reply, with the help of Jaiswal’s fifty and Hetmyer’s quickfire, RR chased down the target with 2 balls to spare. Chasing the 190-run target, Jos Buttler gave a fiery start to RR with his big hits and stitched a 46-run partnership with Jaiswal before Rabada put break on Buttler’s run fest in the fourth over. Rabada dismissed Buttler off the wide yorker which the latter tried to scoop but found the bottom of the bat and ball went to the short-third where Bhanuka Rajapaksa took a comfortable catch. Captain Sanju Samson came to the crease and picked up from where Buttler left. But Rishi Dhawan didn’t let him stay for long and sent him packing for the score of 23 off 12 in the 9th over. However, Jaiswal continued with his momentum and brought up his second IPL half-century off 33 deliveries. His fine knock came to an end in the 15th over when he got caught off the bowling of Arshdeep Singh. Devdutt Paddikal and Hetmyer established a crucial 41-run standoff 27 balls to take Royals close to victory before Arshdeep sent Paddikal back to hut in the penultimate over for the score of 31. RR needed 8 off the final over and Rahul Chahar started the over with a wide. Then Hetmyer hit a six and took a single after a couple of dot balls to take RR over the line. Arshdeep picked two wickets, while Rabada, Rishi got one wicket apiece for PBKS. Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan (12) and Bairstow gave Punjab a decent start with a 47-run opening partnership. But Ravichandran Ashwin trapped Dhawan in the sixth over, who tried to flick the length ball towards mid-on where Jos Buttler took a stunning one-handed catch. PBKS were 48/1 at the end of the powerplay. Rajapaksa and Bairstow took the attack to RR and together contributed 42 runs for the second wicket before Yuzvendra Chahal bowled Rajapaksa in the 11th over and skipper Mayank Agarwal joined Bairstow. Then, Chahal wreaked havoc in the 15th over as he dismissed Agarwal (15 off 13) and Bairstow (56 off 40) in the same over and PBKS were reduced to 119/4. After losing two wickets in an over, Liam Livingstone and Jitesh provided the much-needed momentum to PBKS with their 50-run stand which Prasidh Krishna broke in the penultimate over. He cleaned up Livingstone (22 off 14) with a perfect yorker which directly hit the off stump. In the final over, Jitesh hit two boundaries and a maximum and took Kings to a respectable total of 189/5. Chahal claimed three wickets, while Ashwin and Krishna got a wicket each for RR. (UNI)