Jaiswal, Archer help Rajasthan defeat Punjab

Rajasthan Royals handed Punjab Kings their first defeat of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season, securing a thumping 50-run win on Saturday courtesy of stellar performances from Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jofra Archer.

Chasing 206, Punjab faltered against Rajasthan’s attack at the New International Cricket Stadium, with Archer’s bowling performance proving pivotal in the visitors’ win alongside fellow pacer Sandeep Sharma.

Archer took two wickets in the first over, dismissing Priyansh Arya on the first delivery and then rounded off the over by sending Punjab skipper Shreyas Iyer back to the pavilion.

“When there are days like this, you got to make sure you cash in because equally, you can have some bad days. Enjoy the good ones, take the bad ones in your stride,” said Archer, named player of the match.

Glenn Maxwell and Nehal Wadhera, however, showed resilience in their 88-run partnership but the rest of the Punjab batters failed to rise to the occasion, scoring a total of only 155/9.

Put into bat, Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson and his fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal gave the team a robust start, posting 85/0 at the end of 10 overs.

Yashasvi was Rajasthan’s top scorer with 67 off 45 balls, including three fours and five sixes, while Riyan Parag carried Rajasthan through the death overs with his unbeaten 43-run knock, taking the visitors to 205/4 in 20 overs.

“The way we started in the power play, I felt we were running a bit short,” Samson said as Rajasthan posted the first 200 plus score at this venue in the IPL.

“But with the quality of batsmanship which we have and because the way it was getting a bit hard to hit those boundaries, I thought, they would also feel the same. I felt 205 was a really good score on the board.”

Punjab’s bowling attack, despite Lockie Ferguson’s efforts in slowing down the run rate and claiming the wickets of Samson and Jaiswal, underperformed.

Both Marcus Stoinis and Marco Jansen finished with an economy rate of more than 11 runs per over.

“I thought we would be conceding around 180-185 — that would have been a great total to chase over here,” Shreyas said.

“We gave away a few extra runs and we were not able to execute according to our plans but ... glad that it [the defeat] happened at the start of the season.”

Punjab will play their next home game on Tuesday against Chennai Super Kings while Rajasthan will look to extend their winning lead against Gujarat Titans on Wednesday.