Rajasthan Royals vs Punjab Kings, 59th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Punjab Kings continue to fly and are currently placed second, tied on points with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Once again it was their Indian contingent which delivered with the likes of Nehal Wadhera and Harpreet Brar stepping up. They are looking like the team to beat now. As for Rajasthan Royals, it has been the same old story this season - they start a run-chase and will be on course but to only throw it away towards the end. That's all from this game. Another big one is happening right now. Switch tabs and catch all the action from that. Goodbye..

Harpreet Brar | Player of the Match: I am feeling really good. I would like to dedicate this award to my wife as it is my first after marriage. We practice a lot against the left handers, Ponting Sir has told us that a leftie can get a leftie out. I have worked on that, I knew they would come after me but I backed to bowl to my strengths. The way the wicket was playing and they were batting, the plan was to not give a boundary or give them an easy balls. I have been with Sunil (Joshi) Sir for a long time, I have learned a lot, he's thought me on how to use the crease, how to read the batter and the wicket. After Chahal's arrival I thought it would be easy to bowl with him, I didn't get an opportunity at the start but cricket is a funny game, I always thought once I get an opportunity I will grab it.

Shreyas Iyer: The reason is the finger over here (pointing at his forefinger). I don't know what has happened. Yesterday while practising I got hit, I will have to go and check what is the issue here. I was just passing on the message to all the players to keep a positive body language, you tend to drop and feel the game has gone away from you, but I am proud of every player out there to show that sort of great and bold approach. (On Harpreet Brar) He has been consistent in the nets. He wants to do the best for himself, he was hungry for this opportunity and today I feel he stepped in and delivered at his best, congratulations to him and his mindset has been tremendous throughout. Absolutely brilliant approach and attitude coming in after the break, the boys were in high spirits and we also needed a rest, going forward in the tournament, it was the right time we came in together and showed the kind of mindset to win irrespective of the situation. Going forward we saw that the spinners were difficult to take charge over, we hardly got runs off their spinners and that's one learning, apart from that we can change the game from any situation.

RR batting second in IPL 2025
9 matches, 8 defeats, 1 win
They won the toss in six of these nine games.
They won two of the four games while batting first.

Most defeats batting second in an IPL edition
8 - PWI in 2012
8 - PWI in 2013
8* - RR in 2025 (includes Super Over finish)

Marco Jansen: It definitely felt really tight because the ball was flying everywhere. For us, it was just about staying in the game. (Chat after the powerplay) We knew 2 or 3 or 4 good overs will bring their run-rate down or run-rate up for them. For us it was just about not conceding as many boundaries as we did in the first six overs. I think we did that quite well in the middle and finished it off in the back-end. (Chat with Arshdeep Singh) I gave one option, he gave a certain option, we went with his option and it worked and that's why I smiled. Went away for a couple of days before coming back. For me personally, the body feels good, getting a small break definitely helped me in terms of mental things. It was about finding my feet and then whenever the team needed me, just try and step up like everyone has been doing.

Sanju Samson | RR captain: We started off really well, couldn't ask for anything more from the openers having scored 90 runs in the powerplay. We couldn't carry on the momentum we got in the powerplay. It (target) was quite achievable today. The wicket played completely different today. That was a chaseable score with the kind of power-hitters we had. It's a bit hard to nail it down to one thing, we have to get the job done. A couple of experienced guys should take responsibility and do their job. Definitely a lot of improvements to be done for the upcoming season. We can't try much, the first priority is to win the game (vs CSK)

19:15 Local Time, 13:45 GMT: Rajasthan Royals and run-chases - it has not been a happy or successful combination this season. That's the fourth game they have lost by 11 or less runs this year and that is excluding the Super Over loss to Delhi Capitals. With the kind of start Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal gave them, you'd have expected them to canter home but it has not been that sort of a campaign. The openers got them off to a rollicking start and it was absolute carnage, in fact there was no single run until the 5th over as the pair dealt in only fours and sixes. But once that partnership was broken the Rajasthan Royals kept losing wickets at regular intervals and left Jurel with plenty to do at the end. The keeper-batter tried his best but there was absolutely no support from the other end and the result was another close loss while chasing. Special mention to Harpreet Brar; in a game where most bowlers went for plenty, he finished with mind-blowing figures of 3/22 and those wickets were Suryavanshi, Jaiswal and Parag. Presentations coming up..

Marco Jansen to Kwena Maphaka, FOUR, Punjab Kings win by 10 runs. Maphaka finishes with back to back fours but it is not going to matter. Full delivery angled in, Maphaka shuffles across and laps it to fine leg. He played that well..

Marco Jansen to Kwena Maphaka, FOUR, fullish delivery around off, Maphaka heaves it towards cow corner and picks up a boundary

Marco Jansen to Kwena Maphaka, wide, sprays the hat-trick ball down leg, no chance for Maphaka to make any sort of connection, wide called

Kwena Maphaka, left handed bat, comes to the crease

Marco Jansen to Hasaranga, out Caught by Prabhsimran!! Two in two for Jansen. He's on a hat-trick. Full and angled outside off, Hasaranga had no option but to go for the big shot, he throws his bat and gets a thick outside edge, Prabhsimran does the rest behind the stumps. Punjab Kings are almost there. Can Jansen pick up a hat-trick? Hasaranga c Prabhsimran b Marco Jansen 0(1)

Marco Jansen to Hasaranga, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

Wanindu Hasaranga, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Marco Jansen to Dhruv Jurel, out Caught by Mitchell Owen!! Game, set and match. Jurel departs and the celebrations begin in the Punjab Kings camp. Very full delivery outside off, Jurel bends down low and opens the bat face to play the slice, but he does not get enough power and Owen hangs on near deep backward point. A fine knock but not enough to take the Royals over the line. Dhruv Jurel c Mitchell Owen b Marco Jansen 53(31) [4s-3 6s-4]

Marco Jansen to Dhruv Jurel, THATS OUT!! Caught!!

20 from 4. Unless Jurel pulls out something special this game is done and dusted. All eyes on him..

Marco Jansen to Shubham Dubey, 1 run, full and not quite in the yorker zone, Dubey drags the drive off the inner half to deep mid-wicket

Marco Jansen to Dhruv Jurel, 1 run, he takes the single. 133.3ks very full and close to yorker length, Jurel squeezes the drive to long-off and is reluctant to take the single. He eventually takes it and has to hurry. A direct hit would have been interesting

Marco Jansen [2.0-0-30-0] is back into the attack