Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson hit a strong century against the Punjab Kings on Monday but ultimately could not win his team. In the last over, Rajasthan needed 13 runs to win, but fast bowler Arshdeep Singh conceded only eight runs and put the almost lost match to Punjab. For Punjab, Arshdeep Singh took three wickets for 35 runs. In the 14th season, he was given the responsibility of captaining the team after the release of Steve Smith. Sanju, who completed 50 runs off 33 balls, completed his century on 54th ball.
Earlier, after losing the toss and batting first, Punjab scored a big score of 221 for six in 20 overs at the Wankhede Stadium on the basis of Atishi strikes from Lokesh Rahul (91) and Deepak Hooda (64). When Punjab Kings captain Rahul was just nine runs away from his century, Rahul was caught by Tewatia’s best catch on the boundary. Tevatia took a catch at the boundary off Chetan Sakaria but he was going out of the boundary. Teotia bounced the ball inside and then took a catch by coming in from the boundary. Rahul, who scored the most runs in the previous season, was dismissed for 91 this time with the help of seven fours and five sixes in 50 balls.
Deepak Hooda, who was sent to bat at number four, hit four fours and six sixes in 64 runs off just 28 balls. Chris Gayle, who landed at number three, hit four fours and two sixes in his 40 off 28 balls. Opener Mayank Agarwal hit two fours in 14 runs off nine balls. Punjab captain Rahul scored 22 runs with Mayank for the first wicket, 67 runs with Gayle for the second wicket, 105 runs for the third wicket with Hooda and contributed significantly to the Punjab team’s 200-run win.
Nicholas Pooran was caught by Sakaria at the leg side by Chris Maurice while Jhay Richardson fell to Chetan Sakaria on the last ball of the innings. Eight bowlers tried out for Rajasthan but success was won by Chetan Sakaria and Maurice. Sakaria took three wickets for 31 runs in four overs and Maurice took two wickets for 41 runs. Ryan Parag got Gayle’s wicket for 7 runs in an over.
