"Shocking to see where we stand on table,": RR captain Sanju Samson after defeating PBKS by 4 wickets

Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals will now need RCB and MI to lose their matches to qualify for IPL 2023 playoffs.

Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) locked horns in their last league match in the ongoing 16th edition of IPL 2023 on May 19, 2023, at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala.

RR skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and put PBKS into bat in their final IPL league match. In an unfortunate turn of events, star off-spinner R Ashwin was forced to miss out on the game due to a back spasm.

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.

In reply, Yashasvi Jaiswal (50) and Devdutt Padikkal (51) kept RR in 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. In the end, Dhruv Jurel hit a six in the last over of the match, bowled by Rahul Chahar to win the game for RR by 4 wickets.

After the defeat, PBKS captain Shikhar Dhawan looked back at his team’s performance this match and said that 200 should’ve been a good total on this pitch.

He said: “We lost too many wickets in the powerplay and that put us on the backfoot, but Curran, Jitesh and Shahrukh got us back in the game, the bowling was good (in patches), but the fielding wasn't great, the dropped catches cost us the game. I feel 200 should have been a good total on this pitch. We could have done better in all the areas I think. Sometimes the batting was clicking, and sometimes the bowling was clicking, we couldn't put up those performances together. But it's a young group, so we have learnt a lot of things this season. I knew I had to take the game deep, so I wanted my best bowlers to bowl early, so Rahul had to bowl the last over. In the last game I gave Harpreet the final over, it depends on the surface and the situation.”

On the other hand, Sanju Samson said that they were looking g to finish the game by 18.5 overs to get their net run rate better than the RCB team in the context of the playoffs qualification.

“I think at the end of the game, when Hety (Hetmyer) was going strong we thought we will finish by 18.5. With the team which we have, it's a bit shocking to see where we stand on the table. If we look back, we have a lot of things to discuss and look at it. I have been talking about Jaiswal almost every game. He has shown maturity. It feels he has played 100 T20Is. Almost 90 percent of the times we feel Boult will take a wicket in the first over. We were under pressure in the last few games,” Sanju Samson said.

The Player of the Match in RR’s 4-wicket win was Devdutt Padikkal, who slammed 51 in 30 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes to his name. He added 73 runs with Yashasvi Jaiswal who made 50 and kept RR in the hunt of that big total.

After receiving the Player of the Match trophy, Padikkal said: "Apart from the net sessions [it is the best I have hit the ball]. Was hitting well coming into the season, but it didn't come off well. Every game you come into the side and you want to win the game. Finally, I could make an impact. [No. 3] It has been that kind of a season where I have been all over the place with the order. Doesn't matter which position I bat, I have to learn. At the start of the season not sure if I could make it. I was in very bad shape. Thankful to everyone who supported me."

RR will now have to wait for other results to go their way for an outside chance of playoffs qualification. Now, they need RCB and MI to lose their last respective games.