CHENNAI: All through this season, Rajasthan Royals have been considered as a top-heavy side and to an extent rightly so. For most part, they have relied on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to do the heavy-lifting while the middle-order, especially ones below Riyan Parag have struggled to deliver. At least not until Tuesday.
Reduced to 151/4 in a chase of 223 against Punjab Kings in New Chandigarh, RR had the platform set by Sooryavanshi (45 from 16) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (51). But losing Parag and Dhruv Jurel meant RR was in trouble. Then came Donovan Ferreira (51 n.o) and Shubham Dubey (31 n.o) who saw through the chase without breaking a sweat as RR beat Punjab Kings by six wickets.
Before the duo came together Sooryavanshi and Jaiswal set up the chase once again. Despite PBKS bringing in Lockie Ferguson, the teenager took off in his inimitable style. He launched Arshdeep Singh, Ferguson and Marco Jansen in the stands, racing to 43 off 15 balls. That is when Arshdeep provided the big breakthrough, angling a low full toss away from the left-hander at pace. Sooryavanshi could not get under it and was caught in the deep. Yashasvi Jaiswal (51) tried to keep them in chase, but PBKS kept pegging at regular intervals before Ferreira and Dubey came together.
Earlier, RR opted to bowl first in an attempt to keep Punjab under check with their high quality pacers. And it worked despite the quick start they got. Jofra Archer removed Priyansh Arya before he could do any real damage, but Prabhsimran Singh stood up. In front of his home crowd, the local lad continued to take calculated risks on his way to a 44-ball 59. Cooper Connolly (30 off 14) gave him company for a while but once the duo fell, Punjab stagnated. Shreyas Iyer could not kick on as he was going at almost a run a ball. And just when he started to find some rhythm, the skipper fell, leaving Punjab at 181/4 in 18 overs.
Enter Stoinis. The Australian, who on his day can demolish teams, decided that he was going to make Tuesday his own. Stoinis hit a six and four of Nandre Burger, launched Archer in the stands twice before toying with Brijesh Sharma — three fours and two sixes in 20th over — taking PBKS to 222/4.
Brief scores: PBKS 222/4 in 20 ovs (Prabhsimran 59, Stoinis 62 n.o; Punja 2/41) lost to RR 228/4 in 19.1 ovs (Ferreira 52 n.o, Jaiswal 51, Vaibhav 45).