Rajasthan Royals (RR) resumed their IPL 2021 campaign with a thrilling two-run victory over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dubai on Tuesday (September 21).
Invited to bat first, Royals posted 185/10 in their allotted 20 overs on the back of vital contributions from Yashasvi Jaiswal (49 off 36 balls), Mahipal Lomror (43 off 17 balls), and Evin Lewis (36 off 21 balls).
Arshdeep Singh (5-32) and Mohammad Shami (3-21) starred with the ball for Punjab, picking up eight wickets between them.
In reply, PBKS got off to a terrific start as the duo of skipper KL Rahul (49 off 33 balls) and Mayank Agarwal (67 off 43 balls) added 120 runs for the opening wicket.
After both the openers got out in quick succession, Aiden Markram (26*) and Nicholas Pooran stitched 57 runs for the third wicket to put Punjab on the brink of victory but things turned upside down in the final over bowled by Kartik Tyagi.
Defending four runs in the last over, Tyagi conceded only one and dismissed Pooran (32) and Deepak Hooda (0) in the third and penultimate delivery to pull off a heist for the Royals, restricting PBKS to 183/4.
Cricket experts on Twitter were left astonished by Punjab Kings' choke in the final over while they showered rich praise on young RR pacer Kartik Tyagi.
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