Rajasthan Royals beat Punjab Kings by four wickets to keep play-off hopes alive

Dharamsala, May 19

Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings by four wickets to keep their slim play-off hopes alive in the Indian Premier League here on Friday.

Chasing 188, Yashasvi Jaiswal (50 off 36) and Devdutt Padikkal (51 off 30) slammed quick fifties, while Shimron Hetmyer struck 46 and impact substitute Dhruv Jurel (10 not out) sealed the win for RR with a six with two balls to spare.

The win kept RR in the hunt but their fate also depends on results of other matches.

PBKS, on the other hand, crashed out of the tournament.

Earlier PBKS posted a competitive 187 for five after being sent into bat. PBKS lost wickets at regular intervals to slide to 50 for 4 in the seventh over before Sam Curran (49 not out) and Jitesh Sharma (44 off 28) added 64 runs for the fifth wicket to give some momentum to the innings.

Towards the end, M Shahrukh Khan made valuable 41 off 23 balls.

Navdeep Saini (3/40) was the pick of the bowlers for RR, while Adam Zampa (1/26) and Trent Boult (1/35) picked up a wicket each.

Brief Scores:

Punjab Kings: 187 for 5 in 20 overs (Jitesh Sharma 44, Sam Curran 49  not out; Navdeep Saini 3/40).

Rajasthan Royals: 189 for 6 in 19.4 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 51, Yashasvi Jaiswal 50, Shimron Hetmyer 46; Kagiso Rabada 2/40).