The 32nd match of the Indian Premier League 2021 was definitely a nail-biting one where Sanju Samson led Rajasthan Royals won by 2 runs. Punjab Kings won the toss and opted to bowl first.
A couple of brilliant knocks helped Rajasthan put up a decent total of 185 on the board in their allotted 20 overs. However, Arshdeep Singh claimed a fifer for 32 whereas Shami took 3 wickets for Punjab.
While chasing, Mayank Agarwal scored a quickfire 67 off 43 and KL Rahul scored a steady 49 and added 120 runs in 11.5 overs as well. They were all set for a win but Sanju Samson and Co. had some other plan as a brilliant show from the bowlers sealed the deal for them.
Wow! Defending 4 in the final over, giving away only 1.
Brilliant from Kartik Tyagi. Punjab can only blame themselves #PBKSvRR— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) September 21, 2021
After the win, the youngster, Kartik Tyagi, who won the Player of the Match award, said: “I was injured during the India leg of the IPL and by the time I got fit, the tournament was suspended. Felt sad. So this feels really good. I have been talking to people over the years and they keep telling me that things keep changing in this format, so I need to keep believing. I’ve always heard from everyone and also watched games in this format where strange things have happened. Today, I was fortunate to play a big role in something special. I was bowling a bit too short earlier, later worked on it consciously after getting a lot of feedback.”
Sanju Samson is a joy to listen tošš¾ At the toss he said 'We are good at setting totals and chasing, so toss doesn't matter'. Now, at the post-match presentation, he says 'Its kind of funny that we kept believing'š He gives these great lines time and againš„ #PBKSvRR #IPL2021
— Harik (@harionaroll) September 21, 2021
Winning captain Sanju Samson said: “It’s funny that we kept believing (that we could win). I kept the overs of Mustafizur and Tyagi for the end, believing. Cricket is a funny game right. We just kept fighting and believing. I always believe in my bowlers, want to keep fighting and that’s why I kept those two overs till the end. To be very honest, to get that score on this wicket, we felt good because we had the bowling. If we took the catches, we could have won the game earlier. People have really worked hard on their fitness.”
Despite being in a winning position, Punjab failed to start with a win. And, after the loss, Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul said that the loss was tough to digest.
He said: “It’s a tough one to swallow. We have been a team that has experienced games like these before. We need to see how we can handle pressure better. Trying to finish in the 18th over sometimes you go too hard and lose your way and let the opponents in. We haven’t learnt from previous mistakes. We will now try to come back stronger and win the next five games. We pulled things back quite nicely with the ball, kept taking wickets, which is very crucial in this format. Getting runs for me, Mayank and even Aiden in his first IPL game was important.”
Evin Lewis said: “I feel good. It looked a great wicket and just looked to get the team to a great start. 200 would have been a par total but nevertheless. We were a bit discoloured in the first ten with the ball and then we switched on and it was nice to see that we can achieve things. We just tried and kept things simple. In the last five we didn’t get the score we wanted but it was a fighting total.”
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