Mullanpur (Punjab) [India], April 6 (ANI): Following his side’s win over Punjab Kings (PBKS), Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer Jofra Archer expressed happiness with being able to contribute to the win.
A hard-hitting half-century by Yashasvi Jaiswal and top bowling spells from Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma and Maheesh Theekshana helped Rajasthan Royals (RR) secure a 50-run win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at Mullanpur on Saturday. After some dull outings where runs kept leaking for Archer, the England pacer came good finally with devastating figures of 3/25 in four overs.
Speaking in the post-match presentation, Archer said, “Beginning of the tournament that happened (bad games) but happy to contribute to the win. On days like this, you make sure you got to cash in, you enjoy the good ones and take the bad ones in your stride. You will be lucky in some circumstances, everyone is training just as hard as you, every day is not going to be a great day.”
After PBKS won the toss and elected to bowl first, an 89-run stand between Yashasvi Jaiswal (67 in 45 balls, with three fours and five sixes) and Sanju Samson (38 in 26 balls, with six fours) kickstarted things to RR. Cameos from Riyan Parag (43* in 25 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and Shimron Hetmyer (20 in 12 balls, with two fours and a six) took RR to 205/4 in 20 overs.
Lockie Ferguson (2/37) was top bowler for PBKS. Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen got one wicket each.
During the run-chase, PBKS was reduced to 43/4 by Jofra Archer (3/25). However, an 88-run stand between Nehal Wadhera (62 in 41 balls, with five fours and three sixes) and Glenn Maxwell (30 in 21 balls, with three fours and a six) gave PBKS hope. However, after their dismissals, PBKS lost their direction and missed boundaries dearly. PBKS was restricted to 155/9 in 20 overs, thanks to some fine bowling support from Sandeep Sharma (2/21) and Maheesh Theekshana (2/26).
With this loss, PBKS has suffered their first defeat of IPL 2025 and have started their home leg with a setback. They are at the fourth spot with two wins and a loss, whereas RR are at the seventh place with two wins in two matches. (ANI)
