Dubai: Young Kartik Tyagi bowled a sensational last over as Rajasthan Royals pulled off an incredible two-run win over Punjab Kings in an Indian Premier League (IPL) thriller on Tuesday.Punjab required four runs off the last six balls but Tyagi dismissed Nicholas Pooran (32) and Deepak Hooda (0) and gave away only one run to snatch the win for his team from the jaws of defeat.
Earlier, Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul (49) and opening partner Mayank Agarwal (67) approached the chase in the best way possible as they stitched an outstanding century stand for the first wicket. They, however, were both dismissed in quick succession. A little earlier, Agarwal brought up his fifty. The first innings of the night belonged to Arshdeep Singh as he bagged his maiden five-wicket haul to peg back Rajasthan Royals and restrict them to 185/10 in their 20 overs. Mohammed Shami also shone with the ball, picking up 3 wickets. Earlier, Evin Lewis (36) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (49) had gotten Rajasthan Royals off to a brisk start. The team crossed 50 in just 5 overs. Once they were dismissed, Liam Livingstone (25) and Mahipal Lomror (43) took up the boundary-scoring duties. But RR kept losing wickets at regular intervals and a mini-collapse at the end meant they could not get past 200.
Sanju Samson, Rajasthan Royals captain, said, ‘It’s funny that we kept believing (that we could win). I kept the overs of Mustafizur and Tyagi for the end, believing. Cricket is a funny game right. We just kept fighting and believing. I always believe in my bowlers, want to keep fighting and that’s why I kept those two overs till the end. To be very honest, to get that score on this wicket, we felt good because we had the bowling. If we took the catches, we could have won the game earlier. People have really worked hard on their fitness.’
Kartik Tyagi, Player of the Match, said, ‘I was injured during the India leg of the IPL and by the time I got fit, the tournament was suspended. Felt sad. So this feels really good. I have been talking to people over the years and they keep telling me that things keep changing in this format, so I need to keep believing. I’ve always heard from everyone and also watched games in this format where strange things have happened. Today, I was fortunate to play a big role in something special. I was bowling a bit too short earlier, later worked on it consciously after getting a lot of feedback.’
KL Rahul, Punjab Kings captain, said, ‘It’s a tough one to swallow. We have been a team that has experienced games like these before. We need to see how we can handle pressure better. Trying to finish in the 18th over sometimes you go too hard and lose your way and let the opponents in. We haven’t learnt from previous mistakes. We will now try to come back stronger and win the next five games. We pulled things back quite nicely with the ball, kept taking wickets, which is very crucial in this format. Getting runs for me, Mayank and even Aiden in his first IPL game was important.’