Picture : Twitter/ IPL
Young pacer Kartik Tyagi held his nerve and bowled a sensational last over as Rajasthan Royals pulled off a two-run win against Punjab Kings in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match in Dubai.
Punjab required four runs off the last six balls, but Tyagi dismissed Nicholas Pooran (32) and Deepak Hooda (0), conceding only one run, to snatch victory for the Royals from the jaws of defeat.
Punjab ended their innings at 183 for 4, chasing 186 for victory. The Royals who were terrible on the field with several dropped catches, were seemingly down and out when the Punjab Kings opening pair of Mayank Agarwal (67) and KL Rahul (49) put on 120 runs in 11.5 overs.
With Aiden Markram (26 not out) and Nicholas Pooran (32) going strong, it looked like it would be only a matter of time when Punjab would wrap up the match. In the end though they made a mess in the last over to suffer their sixth defeat from nine matches.
The Royals now moved to fifth spot ahead of KKR after four wins from eight matches.
Earlier, the 22-year-old Arshdeep Singh (5/32) complemented his senior pro Mohammed Shami (3/21) well as the duo shared eight wickets to help Punjab bowl out Rajasthan for 185 in exactly 20 overs after they were going strong at 169 for 5 in 17 overs.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (49) and Mahipal Lomror (43) scored bulk of the runs for Rajasthan.
In reply, Mayank and Rahul looked in good touch. The latter, who was dropped thrice, smashed 4 fours and 2 sixes in his 33-ball innings. He also crossed 3000 IPL runs during his knock.
Mayank too produced seven hits to the fence and also clobbered two sixes in his 43-ball knock. Once the Punjab skipper was caught off Chetan Sakariya (1/31) in 12th over, Agarwal too was removed by Rahul Tewatia (1/23).
Markram and Pooran then played some delightful shots to keep their chase on track before they were undone by a brilliant last-over by Tyagi.
Tyagi’s last over heroics did not go unnoticed. India paceman Jasprit Bumrah praised the youngster in his tweet, as he wrote, To maintain a cool head under that kind of pressure and to get the job done, great stuff, very impressive!
What an over, #KartikTyagi! To maintain a cool head under that kind of pressure and to get the job done, great stuff, very impressive! #PBKSvRR #IPL2021
— Jasprit Bumrah (@Jaspritbumrah93) September 21, 2021
