Captain Sam Curran featured with bat and ball in his last match of this IPL season as Punjab Lords beat Rajasthan Royals by five wickets for an encouragement win on Wednesday. Pursuing a precarious 145 on a languid pitch, Punjab relied upon Curran's unbeaten 63 to accomplish their objective with seven balls in excess in Rajasthan's embraced home ground in Guwahati.
Left-gave Curran put on a key 63-run stand with Jitesh Sharma, who made 22, and in spite of losing his accomplice in the sixteenth over controlled the group home to lift them from the lower part of the 10-group table. Curran, who took over as Punjab chief halfway this season after a physical issue to standard captain Shikhar Dhawan, and partner Jonny Bairstow will leave for Britain on Thursday in anticipation of the T20 World Cup in June.
"Me and Jonny are leaving tomorrow," player of the match Curran said. "Clearly pleasant. Have completely partaken in the season, have delighted in captaining. Climate around the gathering has been great. Amped up for the World Cup." The greater part of the Britain players in IPL including Rajasthan's Jos Buttler have previously ventured out from home in front of four T20 matches against Pakistan as a check up for the World Cup in the West Indies and the US.
Influence substitute Ashutosh Sharma crushed 17 and the triumphant hurry to hand Rajasthan their fourth progressive loss in this release of the T20 competition. "Frankly, we need to pause for a moment and acknowledge that we are going through certain disappointments," Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson said. "You need to figure out what's not functioning admirably collectively. At the point when you are getting to the business end, we want somebody to raise their finger up and say 'I will dominate the match for the group'. We have the players who can do that."
The misfortune for Rajasthan hurt their possibilities of a best two completion in the association stage a day after they affirmed their play-off spot. Rajasthan, who stay in runner up with one game close by, and table-clinchers Kolkata Knight Riders are the main two groups to have booked their play-off compartment. The main four groups make the end of the season games, yet the first and second-put sides enjoy the benefit of two opportunities to fit the bill for the last on May 26 in Chennai.
Punjab, who had proactively retired from the play-off race, held the resistance down to 144-9 notwithstanding a 34-ball 48 by Riyan Parag. Left-arm fast Curran bowled Yashasvi Jaiswal, for four, in the principal over and afterward Samson withdrew for 18 off Nathan Ellis after a sluggish beginning. Parag found Ravichandran Ashwin, who hit 28 off 19 balls, for organization and the two endeavored to push the scoring in their association of 50. The remainder of the batting wavered against a trained assault as Curran, individual speedy Harshal Patel and spinner Rahul Chahal took two wickets each.