All-round Royals clinch victory as PBKS' woes at home continue

Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings by 50 runs in Mullanpur. It was the hosts' fifth loss in six games since moving from the PCA Stadium in Mohali.

Royals Powerplay

Despite only 10 runs separating the sides, RR were wicketless thanks to a solid stand between Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal. PBKS were blown away by the pace bowlers of the Royals. Jofra Archer took two wickets in the first over, including that of Shreyas Iyer. Sandeep Sharma also scalped Stoinis.

Royals Middle Overs

The flow of runs continued after the PowerPlay with Samson clipping Yuzvendra Chahal to the boundary. Lockie Ferguson broke the partnership as Samson was dismissed. Jaiswal continued to score quickly, bringing up his 50 off 40 balls. He was eventually dismissed by Ferguson. Nitish Rana was also dismissed.

Royals Death Overs

With 142 on the board and plenty of wickets in hand, the Royals had their eyes set on 200. They did breach the 200-run mark, aided by the Kings who missed a slew of run-out chances and spilled a few catches. Dhruv Jurel and Parag took the Royals to a competitive 205/4.

PBKS Powerplay

Jofra Archer began with a peach of a delivery, hitting the top of Priyansh Arya's off-stump. Iyer lofted the Englishman over extra-cover for four but was then dismissed. Sandeep Sharma caught Stoinis off his own bowling. Nehal Wadhera was dropped by Jurel.

PBKS Middle Overs

Prabhsimran Singh fell immediately after the PowerPlay. Wadhera finally scored his first boundary off his 11th delivery. He followed it up with a reverse-sweep. Maxwell took on Kumar Kartikeya showcasing his wide range of shots while Wadhera smashed the left-arm spinner's googly to the stands. The partnership continued to pick up steam, bringing up the 100 for PBKS. Wadhera successfully took his chances against Theekshana with two boundaries on the onside but his partner, Maxwell, fell.

PBKS Death Overs

The loss of Maxwell was followed by the departure of Wadhera. Suryansh Shedge slashed a slower ball to sweeper cover. Jansen holed out to Hetmyer. With Shashank Singh not finding his mojo, the Royals cruised to their second win of the campaign.

Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 205/4 in 20 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 67, Riyan Parag 43; Lockie Ferguson 2-37, Arshdeep Singh 1-35) beat Punjab Kings 155/9 in 20 overs (Nehal Wadhera 61, Glenn Maxwell 30; Jofra Archer 3-25, Sandeep Sharma 2-21) by 50 runs.

Punjab Kings will stay in Mullanpur to face the struggling Chennai Super Kings on April 8 while Rajasthan will travel to the west of the country and face Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on the following day.