IPL 2023: Kings overshadowed Royals, Dhawan’s stalwarts won against Rajasthan

The eighth match of IPL 2023 was played between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati. Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson won the toss and decided to bowl first. Batting first, the Punjab team had set a target of 198 runs in front of Rajasthan. However, the Rajasthan team could only manage 192 runs losing 7 wickets. Punjab defeated Rajasthan by 5 runs in this match. The Rajasthan team was seen faltering from the beginning. Ravichandran Ashwin came to open today with Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, this decision of Rajasthan proved to be a flop. Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed on the score of 13 while Ravichandran Ashwin returned to the pavilion without opening the account. Today, Joss could not do anything special on Butler and returned to the pavilion after scoring 19 runs. Although captain Sanju Samson did try but after scoring 42 runs in 25 balls, he was also dismissed.

 

After this, Punjab strengthened its hold in this match. Arshdeep Singh and Australian bowler Nathan Ellis bowled brilliantly for Punjab. Nathan Ellis took 4 wickets for 30 runs in 4 overs. Earlier, half-centuries from openers Captain Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran Singh helped Punjab Kings score 197 for four against Rajasthan Royals. Apart from scoring an unbeaten 86 off 56 balls with nine fours and three sixes, Dhawan put on 90 for the first wicket with Prabhasimran (60 off 34 balls, seven fours, three sixes) and with Jitesh Sharma (27) for the second. Also shared a 66-run partnership for. In this first IPL match being held in the Northeast, Prabhasimran gave a stormy start to the Punjab team. Prabhsimran showed his mettle with a six off KM Asif in the second over of the innings and then added 19 runs in the pacer’s next over with three fours and a six. Dhawan also hit Trent Boult for two consecutive fours. Prabhasimran hit Ashwin for two consecutive fours to take the team’s score past 50 runs in the fifth over. However, he got lucky on 44 off Jason Holder when he was dropped by Devdutt Padikkal at extra cover. Punjab scored 63 runs without losing a wicket in the power play.

 

Prabhsimran completed the first IPL half-century in just 28 balls with two runs off Yuzvendra Chahal. Prabhasimran hit another six on Boult but was caught by Jos Buttler off Holder’s ball. Bhanuka Rajapakse retired hurt after scoring just one run when Dhawan’s shot hit his right hand. Jitesh Sharma hit Chahal for two fours to complete his team’s century in the 12th over, while in the same over, Dhawan also brought the ball to the visitors. Dhawan hit Chahal for two consecutive fours to bring up his 48th IPL half-century in 36 balls. He has 50 scores of more than 50 runs in IPL. He is only the third player after David Warner and Virat Kohli to achieve this feat. Jitesh, however, caught Riyan Parag at the boundary in an attempt to play a big shot off Chahal. Chahal also became the second most successful bowler in the IPL after Dwayne Bravo. Ashwin then bowled Sikandar Raza (01) but Dhawan played some good shots in the last over. Holder (2/29) was the most successful bowler while Ashwin (1/25) bowled economically but Asif (54/5) and Chahal (1/50) proved costly.