On May 19, 2023, at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala, Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) clashed in their last league match for them in the IPL 2023.
In their final IPL league game, RR captain Sanju Samson called for PBKS to bat after winning the toss. Unfortunately, because of a back spasm, star off-spinner R Ashwin skipped the game.
They brought in Trent Boult, Navdeep Saini, and Riyan Parag. But because of these changes, some players—including Ashwin, Joe Root—were left out of this particular game.
Prabhsimran Singh (9), Shikhar Dhawan (17), and Atharva Taide (19) fell early, but Jitesh Sharma (44), Sam Curran (49*), and Shahrukh Khan (41*) propelled Punjab Kings to 187/5. Navdeep Saini took 3/40 for RR.
In reply, Yashasvi Jaiswal (50) and Devdutt Padikkal (51) kept RR in the hunt despite Jos Buttler (0) and Sanju Samson (2) falling early. After Jaiswal and Padikkal got out, Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag (20 in 12) took over.
Hetmyer was dismissed for 46 in 28 balls thanks to a good catch by Shikhar Dhawan.
With 9 runs needed in the last over, Dhawan gave the ball to leggie Rahul Chahar. After 4 runs taken off the first 3 balls, Dhruv Jurel hit a six and won the match for RR by 4 wickets with 2 balls to spare.
RR finished IPL 2023 league stage on 14 points in 14 games and moved to 5th place, displacing MI to 6th spot on the basis of a better net run rate. They still have an outside chance of making it into the playoffs.
PBKS, on the other hand, have been eliminated, finishing with 12 points in 14 matches.
BRIEF SCORES:
PBKS 187/5 (S CURRAN 49*, J SHARMA 44; N SAINI 3/40) lost to RR 189/6 (D PADIKKAL 51, Y JAISWAL 50; K RABADA 2/40) by 4 wickets
