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Rajasthan Royals (RR) have consolidated their place at the top of the points table after a hard-fought win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh on Saturday (April 13).
Having elected to field first, Rajasthan’s bowling attack applied unrelenting pressure on Punjab’s batting line-up and it paid dividends for them. Rajasthan were able to get breakthroughs at regular intervals and that never allowed the hosts to fly away with the run rate at any stage.
Some decent contributions by Jitesh Sharma (29 off 24 balls), Liam Livingstone (21 off 14 balls) and Ashutosh Sharma (31 off 16 balls) helped Punjab post a respectable 147 on the board.
While all the Rajasthan bowlers chipped in with handy contributions, left-arm orthodox bowler Keshav Maharaj was the pick of all the bowlers. The South African bagged two wickets and gave away just 23 runs in four overs.
In reply, Rajasthan got off to a decent start as Tanush Kotian and Yashasvi Jaiswal put together a 50-run stand before Kotian departed in the ninth over.
Jaiswal was the next batter to be dismissed. The southpaw perished after scoring 39 off 28 balls and Rajasthan’s chase got derailed a bit after he fell.
The visitors got reduced from 82/2 to 136/6 in 18.3 overs but Shimron Hetmyer didn’t let the game slip out of Rajasthan’s hands. Hetmyer scored 27 off 10 balls and remained unbeaten right till the end to take Rajasthan over the line by three wickets to spare.
IPL 2024 Points Table
| Ranking | Teams | Matches | Wins | Losses | Points | NRR (Net run rate) |
| 1. | Rajasthan Royals | 6 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 0.767 |
| 2. | Kolkata Knight Riders | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1.528 |
| 3. | Lucknow Super Giants | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0.775 |
| 4. | Chennai Super Kings | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 0.666 |
| 5. | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 0.344 |
| 6. | Gujarat Titans | 6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -0.637 |
| 7. | Mumbai Indians | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -0.073 |
| 8. | Punjab Kings | 6 | 2 | 4 | 4 | -0.218 |
| 9. | Delhi Capitals | 6 | 2 | 4 | 4 | -0.975 |
| 10. | Royal Challengers Bengaluru | 6 | 1 | 5 | 2 | -1.124
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