Rajasthan Royals put on a valiant show in their final home fixture of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season against Punjab Kings at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium but fell short by 10 runs on Sunday.
Asked to bowl first, the Rajasthan Royals made early inroads but the Punjab Kings went on to post 219/5 in 20 overs. Tushar Deshpande led the bowling effort with figures of 2/37, bringing up his 50th IPL wicket in the process.
In reply, the Rajasthan Royals’ chase took flight courtesy of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal. However, quick wickets in the middle overs derailed the home team’s chase.
Despite Dhruv Jurel’s fighting 53 off 31 late in the innings, the Royals could not cross the finish line, ending up on 209/7 in their 20 overs.
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The loss kept the Rajasthan Royals at ninth position on the IPL 2025 points table. They will play their final game of the IPL 2025 league stage against Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday.
Rajasthan Royals’ bowlers made a promising start as Tushar Deshpande and IPL debutant Kwena Maphaka combined to reduce Punjab Kings to 34/3.
But a 67-run stand off 44 balls between skipper Shreyas Iyer and Nehal Wadhera helped the visitors regain momentum, taking them past 100 in the 11th over.
Parag broke the partnership by removing Iyer in the same over but Wadhera carried on to top-score with a fluent 70 off 37 balls. He found support from Shashank Singh (59*) while Azmatullah Omarzai’s unbeaten 21 off 9 balls helped Punjab surge past 200.
Deshpande (2/37), Maphaka (1/32), Parag (1/26) and Akash Madhwal (1/48) were the wicket-takers for Rajasthan.
Chasing 220, Rajasthan Royals flew out of the blocks as openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and 14-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi tore into Punjab’s attack. Jaiswal smashed 22 off Arshdeep Singh’s opening over before Sooryavanshi lit up the second with 16 off Marco Jansen.
The left-handed pair brought up the team fifty in just 2.5 overs - the fastest of the season across all teams. Sooryavanshi departed in the fifth over after a dazzling 15-ball 40, having struck four maximums and as many fours.
Remarkably, the first run off the bat that wasn’t a boundary came off the 26th delivery of the innings. By then, 66 of the Royals’ runs had come in fours and sixes, with one more added via a wide.
Skipper Sanju Samson, in at No. 3, kept the tempo high as Rajasthan stormed to 89/1 at the end of the powerplay - their best-ever powerplay effort in IPL history - with 86 of those runs coming in boundaries.
Yashasvi Jaiswal brought up his fifty off just 24 balls before falling soon after. The quick wickets of Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag briefly stalled Rajasthan’s charge, putting the chase under pressure.
Dhruv Jurel’s gritty half-century kept Rajasthan Royals’ hopes alive deep into the chase, but with 22 needed off the final over, the target ultimately proved out of reach.
Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings, IPL 2025, brief scores: PBKS 219/5 in 20 overs (Nehal Wadhera 70; Tushar Deshpande 2/37) beat RR 209/7 in 20 overs (Dhruv Jurel 53; Harpreet Brar 3/22) by 10 runs.
