Kartik Tyagi’s last over brilliance overshadowed Arshdeep Singh’s maiden five-wicket haul as Rajasthan Royals pulled off a nail-biting thriller against Punjab Kings by just 2 runs in match 32 of IPL at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Rajasthan Royals kept their nerve till the end despite Mayank Agarwal’s brilliant knock of 67 runs and fine innings from PBKS skipper KL Rahul, Aiden Markram, and Nicholas Pooran to seal a two-run victory.
In the chase, Rahul kept riding his luck as he got as many as three chances to score 49 while Agarwal smashed 67 off 43 runs.
Meanwhile, Rahul became the second fastest to score 3000 runs in the IPL. Agarwal made sure that the team gets a solid start and brought a fifty runs stand in the seventh over.
He kept hitting boundaries now and then. Two overs later, Agarwal completed his 10th IPL half-century and also completed his 2000 IPL runs.
The skipper slammed 25 runs in an over of Chris Morris to complete a 100 runs stand.
RR came back into the contest after dismissing the PBKS openers in the space of two overs. Chetan Sakariya got Rahul dismissed on 49, Rahul Tewatia got rid of Agarwal in the 13th over.
Nicholas Pooran and Markram then added 57 runs together, RR still calmed their nerves when PBKS needed just 8 from 2 overs.
Sakariya bowled four runs penultimate over when Tyagi put on a brilliant show after conceding only one run with the wickets of Pooran and Deepak Hooda in the final over to take RR across the finishing line.
Earlier, Ishan Porel, Adil Rashid, and Markram made their IPL debuts for PBKS while Evin Lewis made got his debut cap for RR.
After being put in to bat first, RR made a rocking start as Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal completed the 50 runs stand in 5 overs.
However, the partnership was broken by Arshdeep in the final over of the powerplay to dismiss Lewis on 36.
Porel who was not trusted earlier was put back into the attack again in the eight over and he provided PBKS their second breakthrough after Rahul grabbed a one-handed stunner to get Sanju Samson back to the pavilion.
RR needed a partnership after losing two quick wickets and Jaiswal and Liam Livingstone just provided that in 48 runs standoff just 28 balls to take RR across 110.
The partnership finally broke down in the 12th over as Fabian Allen took a blinder near the ropes to get the wicket of Livingstone on 25.
Jaiswal was next on the list as Agarwal took a simple catch off Harpreet Brar to dismiss him on 49.
Mahipal Lomror went after Punjab bowlers after hammering 24 runs in just an over, smacked two sixes and two fours in an over to get past 160 runs in 16th over.
PBKS pulled things back for their side as Mohammed Shami and Arshdeep joined their arms. Shami dismissed Riyan Parag in 17th and Arshdeep got the better of Lomror who scored 43 off just 17.
Shami then bowled a double-wicket penultimate over after dismissing Rahul Tewatia and Chris Morris before Arshdeep completed a five-wicket haul, getting the wickets of Sakariya and Kartik Tyagi in the 20th over.
PBKS bowled RR out for 185.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 185 all out (Yashasvi Jaiswal 49, Mahipal Lomror 43; Arshdeep Singh 5/32) beat Punjab Kings 183/4 (Mayank Agarwal 67, KL Rahul 49; Kartik Tygai 2/29) by 2 runs