Samson’s blitzkrieg goes in vain as Punjab Kings clinch the cliffhanger

Sanju Samson’s fighting hundred went in vain as Arshdeep Singh held his nerves in the final over to help Punjab Kings register a thrilling win over Rajasthan Royals here at the Wankhede on Monday.

Punjab Kings squad celebrating a dismissal.Sanju Samson, the losing captain, of Rajasthan Royals, was given man of the match for scoring 119 runs off 63 balls.

KL Rahul’s calm and composed knock, aided by Deepak Hooda’s belligerent hitting, helped Punjab Kings post 221 in the allotted 20 overs. In response, Rajasthan Royals fell just five runs short of the target to clinch the game. With Ben Stokes back in the hut, Jos Buttler and Samson had revived Rajasthan Royals’ innings before the English batsman lost the plot and got out in the eighth over.

However, Samson and Riyan Parag didn’t give up and kept fighting as the duo smashed 13 and 20 runs in the 15th and 16th over. Samson took on Richardson and whacked him for 19 runs in the 18th over as the equation came down to 21 off two overs.

Samson, who smashed 119 off 63 balls, kept fighting till the end but wasn’t able to get the job done for the Royals as Punjab Kings clinched a thriller on the last ball. The wicket-keeper batsman had also refused a run to remain at a strike when Rajasthan Royals needed 5 off 2 balls.

Chasing a mammoth 222, Rajasthan Royals suffered an early jolt as they lost star all-rounder Ben Stokes in the first over. Manan Vohra tried to revive the innings with a six and a four but eventually got out in an attempt to slog every ball.

However, Jos Buttler was in some other mood as the wicket-keeper started firing right from the word go. The English batsman creamed four consecutive fours in Australian pacer Riley Meredith’s first over in the IPL.

Despite a few initial blips, Rajasthan Royals went past 50 in quick time. With runs flowing from both ends, the Sanju Samson-led side scored 59 runs after the completion of powerplay.

But Jhye Richardson’s slower yorker did the trick for the Punjab Kings as Buttler was cleaned up in the eighth over to reduced Rajasthan Royals to 70/3. With the ever-mounting required rate, Samson decided to switch gears, but finally team fell five runs short and succumbed to the battle.

Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 221/6 (Rahul 91, Hooda 64, Sakariya 3-31); Rajasthan Royals 217/7 (Samson 119, Riyan Parag 25; Arshdeep Singh 3-35 )