Rajasthan Royals finished the Punjab Kings' unbeaten run in this season on Saturday when the Sanju Samson-led side defeated the hosts by 50 runs in match 18 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur. (Highlights | Schedule | Teams | Points Table)
Shreyas Iyer won the toss and invited the Royals to bat first. Sanju Samson returned as skipper for the Royals after Riyan Parag did the captain's duties in the first three matches.
Playing XIs
Punjab Kings: Prabhsimran Singh(w), Shreyas Iyer(c), Marcus Stoinis, Nehal Wadhera, Glenn Maxwell, Shashank Singh, Suryansh Shedge, Marco Jansen, Arshdeep Singh, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(c), Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel(w), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Sandeep Sharma
Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal gave a flying start and added 89 runs for the first wicket. Jaiswal went on to hit his first half-century of the season, but Samson missed the opportunity.
Riyan Parag came one down and made a quick 43 not out off just 25 balls. Nitish Rana (12), Shimron Hetmyer (20) and Dhruv Jurel (13 not out off just five balls) also played crucial cameos to take the team's total to 205 runs.
Lockie Ferguson took a couple of wickets, whereas Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen shared one wicket each.
In response, Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh came to open the batting of Punjab Kings. Jofra Archer bowled Arya on the first delivery of his over. Shreyas Iyer came and hit two boundaries but lost his wicket on the last delivery of the first over.
After Archer's "bull's eye", the Punjab Kings were sent on the back foot, and the explosive batter Marcus Stoinis failed to score much and lost his wicket after making just one run. Singh followed him soon.
Nehal Wadhera (62) and Glenn Maxwell (30) added 88 runs for the fifth wicket, but once the partnership was broken, the wickets kept falling like a house of cards.
Sandeep Sharma bowled beautifully in the death overs and conceded just 11 runs combined in his last two overs. Archer picked up three wickets, whereas Sharma and Maheesh Theekshana took a couple of wickets each.
After this win, RR are placed in seventh place, whereas Punjab Kings slipped to fourth place in the points table.
Punjab Kings will host Chennai Super Kings in their next match on Tuesday, 8 April at the same venue. On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals will face Gujarat Titans in their next match at Ahmedabad on Wednesday, 9 April.
