Mullanpur: Punjab Kings have got their first defeat in IPL 2025. After winning two consecutive matches outside the home, Punjab lost against Rajasthan Royals at their home ground Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium. Playing first, Rajasthan team scored 205 runs for 4 wickets. Punjab Kings lost the wicket of their in-form captain Shreyas Iyer in the first over itself. In the end, the team could only score 155 runs for 9 wickets and lost by 50 runs. This is Rajasthan's second consecutive win after two consecutive defeats. Punjab has won two and lost one in three matches so far.
Rajasthan's opening pair performed for the first time
Yashasvi Jaiswal returned to form and showed amazing performance with the bat and scored 67 runs. The 23-year-old played a brilliant innings with three fours and five sixes in 44 balls. Jaiswal and captain Sanju Samson (38 off 26 balls) gave Rajasthan Royals the best start of the season by sharing 89 runs for the first wicket after Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer decided to bowl. Lockie Ferguson dismissed both Samson and Jaiswal in the middle overs.
Nitish Rana (12) also got out cheaply, due to which Rajasthan Royals lost three wickets between the 11th and 15th overs. Shimron Hetmyer (20 off 12 balls), who was looking dangerous, also could not score big after a blazing start. But Riyan Parag (43 not out off 25 balls) batted explosively in the end, which helped Rajasthan Royals cross the 200-run mark. Parag and Dhruv Jurel (13 not out off five balls) added 20 runs in the last seven balls, helping the team score 55 runs in the last three overs.
Wadhera's fifty did not help Punjab
Punjab Kings got off to a very bad start chasing the target. Jofra Archer bowled Priyansh Arya off the very first ball. Captain Shreyas Iyer was also bowled after hitting two fours off the last ball of the same over. Marcus Stoinis (1) and Prabhsimran Singh (17) also failed to play big innings and Punjab's score became 43 for 4 in the 7th over. After this, Glenn Maxwell and Nehal Wadhera took over the innings. There was a partnership of 88 runs in 52 balls for the 5th wicket between the two. Nehal completed his fifty on 33 balls.
Maxwell and Vadhera were dismissed on two consecutive balls. Maxwell was dismissed by Mahish Teekshana and Wadhera by Wanindu Hasaranga. After this, the innings of Punjab Kings derailed. Rajasthan bowlers completely tied down the batsmen. Suryansh Shedge became the victim of Sandeep Sharma after scoring just 2 runs. Only three runs came off Marco Jansen's bat. For Rajasthan, Jofra Archer took three wickets while Sandeep Sharma and Mahish Teekshana took 2-2 wickets each. Shashank Singh remained unbeaten after scoring 10 runs off 13 balls.
