The most exciting match of the season was played in Guwahati, which witnessed IPL action for the first time. In the eighth match of IPL 2023, Punjab Kings defeated Rajasthan Royals by 5 runs on the very last ball. After strong batting by captain Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran Singh, Punjab registered their second consecutive win in the season on the basis of Nathan Ellis's game-changing spell. Apart from these, the English all-rounder from Punjab justified his price of Rs 18.50 crore by defending 15 runs in the last over.
Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson and Punjab captain Shikhar Dhawan said the same thing at the time of the toss. Both wanted to bowl first as there was bound to be trouble due to dew during the night. In such a situation, Sanju Samson's decision to bowl first seemed correct. Then when Punjab scored 197 runs, this score seemed a few runs less in front of Rajasthan's strong batting.
Rajasthan made the initial mistake
In such a situation, Rajasthan only needed a good start, but in the beginning, such a mistake was made, the effect of which was visible continuously. The team fielded Ravichandran Ashwin for the opening in place of Jos Buttler, which surprised everyone. Butler's finger was injured while taking the catch, due to which he could not get down for the opening. Despite this, why Rajasthan did not field any batsman, it was beyond understanding.
The effect of this was that Yashasvi Jaiswal took the responsibility of a fast start in the absence of Butler but he was dismissed in the second over. Butler, who came to the crease, tried the same but Ashwin himself could not do anything and opened the account in 4 balls. without getting out. Arshdeep Singh made both of them a victim. Rajasthan had expectations from Butler and Captain Samson. Both scored 31 runs in 14 balls and it seemed that Rajasthan would take the match out from there but Nathan Ellis (4/30) started to change the match.
Alice's match-changing spell
He first caught Butler (19) on his own ball and then got Sanju Samson (42 runs, 25 balls), who was thrashing other bowlers, caught at the boundary. Devdutt Padikkal (21 runs, 26 balls), battling for good form, was seen struggling a lot and it tarnished Rajasthan's hopes of victory. At the same time, Guwahati had hoped from its local hero Ryan Parag (20) and Parag also hit two sixes but Ellis returned both of them to the pavilion one by one.
22-year-old batsman Dhruv Jurail (31 not out, 15 balls), who came as an impact player for Rajasthan, added 61 runs in just 26 balls along with Shimron Hetmyer (36 runs, 18 balls). Jurail, making his debut, rained boundaries on Arshdeep Singh in the 19th over. In such a situation, 16 runs were needed in the last over, in which Karan gave only 10 runs.
