IPL 2025: Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings Match Preview, IPL 2025

18th T20 • Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium • Chandigarh

Rajasthan Royals

205/4 (20)

Punjab Kings

155/9 (20)

RR won by 50 runs

Info

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Scorecard

Stats

Table

Mini Games

Date & Time

05 Apr, 07:30 PM IST

Venue

Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Chandigarh

TV/Streaming

JioHotstar, Star Sports Network

Match

18th T20,

Indian T20 League 2025

Points Table

Schedule

Stats

Umpires

Kannur Swaroopanand (India), Ulhas Gandhe (India), Virender Sharma (India, TV)

Referee

Narayanan Kutty (India)

Toss

Punjab Kings elected to bowl

Pitch Report

The ground looks an absolute picture and it's very cool. 66 meters and 65 meters square on either side, 74 meters down the ground. The surface has a look of live grass near the crease but not too much down the pitch. Looks pretty consistent compared to last season. There are some dry patches but it's pretty hard. It'll stay consistent for 40 overs so the toss won't be too important. There's been a bit of wind around so there won't be much dew. 170-180 could be par.

1st Innings

156Avg Runs

7Avg Wkts

132.41Avg SR

2nd Innings

126Avg Runs

7Avg Wkts

119.88Avg SR

Weather Update

Points Table

Head To Head (Last 10 Matches)

PBKS

4- 6

Team Form (Recent 5 Matches, Latest First)

Punjab Kings

Rajasthan Royals

Players to Watch

Top Batters

Dhruv Jurel

RR . WK

106 Runs

3 Matches

Nitish Rana

RR . ALL

100 Runs

3 Matches

Sanju Samson

RR . WK

99 Runs

3 Matches

Top Bowlers

Wanindu Hasaranga

RR . ALL

5 Wkts

2 Matches

Tushar Deshpande

RR . BOWL

3 Wkts

3 Matches

Arshdeep Singh

PBKS . BOWL

2 Wkts

1 Match

Player of the Match Jofra Archer

3/25

Lucky Winner subrata mazumdar

PBKS

Info

Rajasthan Royals

205/4 (20)

Batters

Yashasvi Jaiswal

148.89

b Ferguson

Sanju Samson

146.15

c Iyer b Ferguson

Riyan Parag

172.00

Not out

Nitish Rana

171.43

c Maxwell b Jansen

Shimron Hetmyer

166.67

c Maxwell b Singh

Dhruv Jurel

260.00

Not out

Extras

(B: 0, LB: 2, NB: 0, W: 10)

TOTAL

(20 Ov, RR: 10.25)

205/4

Did not Bat

Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Sandeep Sharma, Kumar Kartikeya Singh

Bowlers

EXT

Arshdeep Singh

8.75

Marco Jansen

11.25

Lockie Ferguson

9.25

Glenn Maxwell

6.00

Yuzvendra Chahal

10.67

Marcus Stoinis

12.00

Fall Of Wickets

SCORE

OVER

Sanju Samson

c Iyer b Ferguson

1-89

10.2

Yashasvi Jaiswal

b Ferguson

2-123

13.2

Nitish Rana

c Maxwell b Jansen

3-138

14.4

Shimron Hetmyer

c Maxwell b Singh

4-185

18.5

Punjab Kings

155/9 (20)

Batters

Priyansh Arya

0.00

b Archer

Prabhsimran Singh

106.25

c Hasaranga b Singh

Shreyas Iyer

200.00

b Archer

Marcus Stoinis

14.29

c & b Sharma

Nehal Wadhera

151.22

c Jurel b Hasaranga

Glenn Maxwell

142.86

c Jaiswal b Theekshana

Shashank Singh

76.92

Not out

Suryansh Shedge

50.00

c Hetmyer b Sharma

Marco Jansen

50.00

c Hetmyer b Theekshana

Arshdeep Singh

20.00

c Hasaranga b Archer

Lockie Ferguson

400.00

Not out

Extras

(B: 5, LB: 1, NB: 0, W: 9)

TOTAL

(20 Ov, RR: 7.75)

155/9

Bowlers

EXT

Jofra Archer

6.25

Yudhvir Singh Charak

10.00

Sandeep Sharma

5.25

Maheesh Theekshana

6.50

Kumar Kartikeya Singh

10.50

Wanindu Hasaranga

9.00

Fall Of Wickets

SCORE

OVER

Priyansh Arya

b Archer

1-0

0.1

Shreyas Iyer

b Archer

2-11

0.6

Marcus Stoinis

c & b Sharma

3-26

3.3

Prabhsimran Singh

c Hasaranga b Singh

4-43

6.2

Glenn Maxwell

c Jaiswal b Theekshana

5-131

14.6

Nehal Wadhera

c Jurel b Hasaranga

6-131

15.1

Suryansh Shedge

c Hetmyer b Sharma

7-136

16.1

Marco Jansen

c Hetmyer b Theekshana

8-145

17.4

Arshdeep Singh

c Hasaranga b Archer

9-151

19.5

Match Info

Date & Time

05 Apr, 07:30 PM IST

Venue

Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Chandigarh

TV/Streaming

JioHotstar, Star Sports Network

Match

18th T20,

Indian T20 League 2025

Points Table

Schedule

Stats

Umpires

Kannur Swaroopanand (India), Ulhas Gandhe (India), Virender Sharma (India, TV)

Referee

Narayanan Kutty (India)

Toss

Punjab Kings elected to bowl

W 1 1wd 1 1 1 1

Over 17

Runs: 6

0 2wd 1 0 W 0 0

Over 18

Runs: 3

1 1 2 0 1 0

Over 19

Runs: 5

0 0 0 1 W 4W

Over 20

Runs: 5

All Overs

Player of the Match Jofra Archer

3/25

Lucky Winner subrata mazumdar

Commentary

With this result, there is a lock-jam on the points table. While Delhi Capitals hold the apex spot, there are six teams tied on 4 points each. That sets us up beautifully for the upcoming week of IPL 2025. But before we head there, we have another drool-worthy contest lined up for Sunday. Having lost three on a bounce, Sunrisers Hyderabad go back to their homeground to face-off against Gujarat Titans. Do joins us for that encounter. Our coverage begins at 6:30PM IST. For now, it is the commentary duo of Darpan Tikiya and Arya Sekhar Chakraborty signing off! Sayonara!

Jofra Archer (Player of the Match): "The beginning of the tournament, I was not happy. But today, I am happy to contribute. When you are having good days, you try to make the most of them. You will have bad days too. You got to understand that you will be lucky in some circumstances. Every one puts in hard yards. So, you are going to have bad days."

Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals captain): "The way we started in the powerplay, we asked ourselves, 'Are we running a bit short?'. It was hard to score boundaries. I knew they will find it tough too. The batters did well. They are young, but have experience of playing at the highest level. Archer and Sandeep are a deadly combo. One bowling at 150, the other at 125, but both equally effective. (When told that Sandeep bowled a 132kph ball) We should cut a cake for that. Archer with his pace and Sandy bowling the tough overs is a great combo. In the IPL, you cannot take any opposition lightly, we have played enough funny games. We executed really well. It took a while for us to figure out our combination and entry points for both batters and bowlers. But now, I think we are doing fine."

Jofra Archer gets the award for bowling most dot balls.

Sanju Samson gets the award for hitting the most fours

Yashasvi Jaiswal also gets the award for hitting the most sixes.

Yashasvi Jaiswal gets the award for having the highest strike rate.

11:31 PM IST - Time for the post match presentation.

Riyan Parag (Rajasthan Royals): "That was the plan, getting few runs in the powerplay was important and Jaiswal did that brilliantly. My plan was to take it easy till the back end and then cut cut loose. Couldn't quite execute as well as I would have liked. Having Sanju back is great for us, if he needs anything from us, we are always there. Today it was the left right combination that's why Nitish batted at four. I saw Lockie come in and I saw his strike rate. Jofra asked me to rush in as I tried to be at long on and then rushed in later."

Shreyas Iyer (Punjab Kings captain): "To be honest I thought we would be considering about 180-185 which would have been great to chase. We conceded a few more runs but I am glad it happened at the start of the season. It was s decent pitch to bat, it was stopping a bit but I felt we could have stitched a few more partnerships rather than going ultra-aggressive. Obviously as you see there wasn't any dew, we can't be blaming on that. We have to go back to the drawing board and work out what didn't go our way and analyse especially why we lost two wickets in quick succession. Wadhera has been phenomenal, he took some time and analysed the situation. This is the third match, it's just the start of the tournament and I am glad it happened early on. We have to see the videos and come back stronger."

11:17 PM IST - Rajasthan Royals win by 50 runs

Yashasvi Jaiswal 67 (45) | Jofra Archer 3/25 (4)
Nehal Wadhera 62 (41) | Lockie Ferguson 2/37 (4)

After starting the tournament with a couple of awe-inspiring victories, Punjab Kings have been mauled in their first home game. The only time they ever looked to be in the game was when that pugnacious Nehal Wadhera - Glenn Maxwell partnership was in full flow. But after the two were dismissed off successive balls, the game meandered to a forgone conclusion.

Rajasthan must be lauded for the approach they adopted with the bat. The new ball swung fair bit, the wicket offered some turn too when the spinners slowed it up. But Royals only lost wickets when the batters miscued their attempts to go for big hits. Largely, their method was sensible yet effective.

Having got shallow returns in the first three matches, tonight the Rajasthan Royals openers were circumspect up top. They were watchful initially and seemed focused on playing themselves in. Even when they started to unleash big shots, there was a sense of maturity and calm in the way went about things. It is hard to recall a reckless shot through the course of that 89-run partnership. Both perished only when they tried to take on Ferguson's pace. The New Zealand quick bowled with some finesse tonight. He constantly registered handsome readings on the speed gun and delivered in the right areas too. However, the support he got from the other end was not as consistent.

Though, the bounce off the pitch was largely true and it allowed the batters to hit through the line. That coupled by the fact that RR had wickets in the bank, permitted them to hit "mode turbo" towards the fag end of the innings. Parag's solid knock of 40 (25) and cameos from Hetmeyer and Jurel propelled them over 200.

Punjab's batting on the other hand, moved along like an old broken down car, stuttering at every mile of the way. For the Royals, Jofra Archer set the tone with ball. He bowled at high pace, made full use of the bounce that was on offer and knocked over two in-form batters in the very first over itself. Priyansh Arya was dismissed for a golden duck and after playing a couple of delightful shots, Shreyas Iyer was undone by a 148.6kph snorter too. While, Archer's thunderbolts got the fans salivating, a not so intimidating Sandeep Sharma quietly went about his business, delivering an even tighter spell. He finished with immaculate figures of 4-0-20-2. Meanwhile, two Sri Lankan spinners were made to bowl tough overs. Both came out with flying colors too. In the end, Royals notch up a comfortable win, which not only gives them two important points but also a crucial net run rate boost.

Raj Royal: "Sandy shows the importance of Yorkers in T20. Old is Gold"
He was super impressive today, wasn't he Raj?

Arjav: "Maxwell was really a Hailey's comet"
Uff, Arjav!

overs

155 /9 score

runs

Lockie Ferguson *

4 (1)

Shashank Singh

10 (13)

Jofra Archer

3 /25

There is confusion because as Archer got into his delivery stride, Riyan Parag was walking into the circle. They confirm that he was. It is a legal ball.

Would you believe it? This might be a no-ball for having more than the permitted number of fielders outside the circle. TV umpire is going through the replays to check.

19.6 Jofra Archer to Lockie Ferguson, FOUR! Ferguson makes some room and slices away the full-length delivery a shade outside off, past the point region, fumble in the deep and allows Ferguson to find the boundary. The TV umpire is checking how many fielders were outside the circle. This is not a no ball and Rajasthan Royals win by 50 runs.

Lockie Ferguson batting at 11th position

That is a good low catch from Hasaranga at cover. Archer now has three to his name. Can he pick up another one?

Arshdeep Singh has been dismissed for 1 runs off 5 balls