Punjab Kings marks yet another victory in the IPL 2023. Shikar Dhawan led Punjab Kings won against Rajasthan Royals by 5 runs. The 8th match of IPL 2023 was held at Barasapara Stadium. The competition was quite tuff. Both the teams were performing extremely well.
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and they decided to bowl first. Punjab Kings scored 197 runs and it was indeed a good target. Punjab Kings captain Shikar Dhawan hit 86 runs off 56 balls. Prabhsimran Singh took 60 runs out of 34 balls. These were the major batters who took the total score ahead.
The opening batters of the Punjab Kings did a fantabulous job of raising the total score. Shikar Dhawan had a huge contribution to this match. His 86 runs were indeed the most valuable. Prabhsimran and Shikar Dhawan set a blasting start for the match. The partnership scored 90 runs in 9.3 overs. Prabhsimran was dismissed after taking 60 runs off 33 balls. Jitesh hit 27 runs off 15 balls. Most of the batters in Punjab Kings scored high number of runs within a small number of balls.
Rajasthan Royals had a fantastic start at the beginning itself. Jaiswal hitting a sixer in the first ball was a huge boost of confidence for the fans. Jaiswal ended the first over with 11 runs. Jaiswal was out in the next bowl. The Wicket of R Ashwin scared Rajasthan Royals a bit. The required run rate was maintained despite losing wickets. Butler was also dismissed after taking 19 runs. Sanju Samson was the ray of hope for the team and he managed to hit 42 runs off 24 balls. Devdutt Padikal was also dismissed after taking 21 runs in 26 balls. The major setback in the match was that every prominent batter was dismissed very soon. With a compelling target, the batters were forced to hit maximum runs without wasting any balls. By the end of 15 overs, Punjab Kings scored 124 runs. They had a huge challenge of scoring 74 runs off 30 balls. With only 4 wickets left, it was a challenging feat to achieve this many runs in this condition.
By the end of 20 overs, Rajasthan Royals took 192 runs losing 7 wickets. Punjab Kings won the match by 5 runs. The match was indeed the most entertaining to watch.
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