Punjab Kings outclassed Rajasthan Royals in a low-scoring thriller at Guwahati’s Barsapara Stadium in match 65 of Tata IPL 2024 on Wednesday. Sam Curran, the Punjab Kings captain, led from the front and RR crashed to their fourth loss in a row. Punjab Kings, who have already been eliminated from the tournament, added two points for their ninth position in the IPL Points Table. However, Rajasthan Royals have been the worst affected from this loss. The Guwahati debacle means that their losing streak continues and Kolkata Knight Riders will remain the table-toppers in the business end of the tournament.

Winning toss and opting to bat first, RR saw an absolute collapse of their batting unit. The performance of the RR batters – Yashasvi Jaiswal (4), Tom Kohler-Cadmore (18), Sanju Samson (18), Dhruv Jurel (0), Rovman Powell (4), Donovan Ferreira (7) – exposed their struggle with the spin attack of the Punjab Kings. It was the key partnership between local boy Riyan Parag and Ravichandran Ashwin that lifted RR to a modest total of 144 for the loss of nine wickets. For PBKS, skip Curran, Rahul Chahar and Harshal Patel picked up two wickets each. Patel also became the Purple Cap holder after this performance.

In response, Punjab began their chase on a poor note as they suffered early jolts with top order fell cheaply. Sam Curran came to the strike when scoreboard read – 48/4 at the end of 8th over. From there on, Curran along with Jitesh Sharma turned the tides and once struggling Punjab Kings dominated Barsapara. After Jitesh Sharma’s dismissal, Ashutosh Sharma joined the captain, and two back-to-back shots sealed the deal for the visitors.

Though Curran is being hailed for leading Punjab Kings in the absence of Shikhar Dhawan, many have also pointed out several international players leaving IPL 2024 for T20 World Cup. Sam Curran and Jonny Bairstow played their last IPL 2024 match on Wednesday. Curran confirmed in the after-match presentation that both players would be leaving India for the T20 World Cup preparations. Irfan Pathan was among those, who took a veiled dig at Curran, In a post on X, Pathan said that either players should not come at all or they should stay for the entire season.