IPL 2021, Live Cricket Score, Rajasthan Royals (RR) vs Punjab Kings (PBKS): Arshdeep Singh, who has been impressive so far today, is given the final over of the evening. Starts off with a wide delivery down the off side. Just a single off the next two deliveries as the equation comes down to 11 off 3. Samson goes downtown over the extra cover/wide long on fence for a maximum to bring the equation down to 5 off 2. Samson denies the single off the fifth ball after not quite connecting, choosing to face the last delivery with five needed. The Rajasthan skipper goes big towards the extra cover fence off the last ball, but fails to get the distance as Hooda collects the winning catch.
Samson’s 119 off 63 balls ultimately doesn’t come in a winning cause as Rajasthan fall short by just four runs!
Preview: Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings begin their journeys in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when they face each other in the fourth match of the ongoing season at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. A winning start will be important for the two sides that are hoping to bounce back after disappointing campaigns in the UAE last year, with Punjab and Rajasthan finishing sixth and eighth respectively.
Both sides have made a number of changes to their squad since IPL 2020 and were among the major spenders in the player auction that took place earlier in February. Rajasthan broke the bank in their pursuit of South African all-rounder Chris Morris, shelling out Rs 16.25 crore to secure his services, thus making him the most expensive buy ever in the history of the league. The 2008 champions also bought Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman, India all-rounder Shivam Dube among others.
Rajasthan also witnessed a change in leadership after the franchise decided to part ways with Steve Smith, who himself had taken over the reigns of the team from Ajinkya Rahane. Smith had a disappointing run with the Royals last year as he hardly performed with the bat while the team finished eighth. Hard-hitting Kerala batsman Sanju Samson, who also backs up as a keeper, has since been appointed the leader.
Punjab, on the other hand, fortified their pace unit by buying Australians Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith for Rs 14 crore and Rs 8 crore respectively. However, playing both in the same XI would be a little tricky given the team would want to utilise the overseas slots in other departments as well. The 2014 runners-up did add the top-ranked T20I batsman Dawid Malan to their squad during the auction ahead of this season, and would want to play him alongside the likes of Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran.
Squads:
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler (wk), Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson (c), Riyan Parag, Shivam Dube, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris, Liam Livingstone, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Kartik Tyagi, Mustafizur Rahman, Andrew Tye, Jofra Archer, Mayank Markande, Anuj Rawat, Chetan Sakariya, Kuldip Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, David Miller, Manan Vohra, KC Cariappa, Mahipal Lomror, Akash Singh
Punjab Kings: KL Rahul (wk/c), Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Prabhsimran Singh, Nicholas Pooran, Shahrukh Khan, Deepak Hooda, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Moises Henriques, Chris Jordan, Mandeep Singh, Dawid Malan, Jalaj Saxena, Murugan Ashwin, Sarfaraz Khan, Fabian Allen, Saurabh Kumar, Ishan Porel, Utkarsh Singh, Darshan Nalkande, Arshdeep Singh, Harpreet Brar
