Barsapara Stadium was the venue as the Rajasthan Royals played their 1st home game of the season. Sanju Samson and his men are scheduled to play 2 games at Guwahati before heading to Jaipur. The opponent was Punjab Kings, as Shikhar Dhawan and his side came into the game after a win over KKR over the weekend. With both the teams making a winning start to the tournament, the teams wanted to carry on their good form heading into their respective 2nd games.
The story as it happened –
Rajasthan Royals won the toss and chose to bowl, both the teams went into the game unchanged. Despite the arrival of Kagiso Rabada, the PBKS management decided to stick with Nathan Ellis. For the RR side, it was the first time, Riyan Parag was playing the IPL in front of his home crowd.
Trent Boult turns Groundsman –
Punjab Kings opened the batting with Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran Singh, It was yet another great start as the two batters went after the RR bowling right from the word go. The incident in question happened in the 1st ball of the 9th over as Boult was bowling to Prabhsimran Singh
The 22 year old right hander had smacked Boult for a six down the ground. The youngster asked the umpire to have the sightscreen adjusted. Sensing time getting wasted with the batter’s wishes not being looked at Trent Boult decided to take the issue in his hands. The Kiwi ran down and did the adjustment himself much to the surprise of the crowd.
Prabhsimran Singh strokes a quick fire fifty –
22 year old Prabhsimran Singh has always been spoken about as a player to watch out for. The youngster from Punjab had an amazing season with the bat in Ranji Trophy cricket. On Wednesday, Singh scored his first half century in IPL cricket as he smacked 60 off 34 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes.
Dhawan returns to form with 86* as PBKS score 197 –
With Prabhsimran Singh going great guns, Shikhar Dhawan dropped his anchor. The 37 year old in fact got to his half century in the 15th over. From there, Dhawan played every shot in the book including a few switch hits to score 86 not out off 56 balls with 9 fours and 3 sixes. 27 by Jitesh Sharma and 11 by Shah Rukh Khan helped Punjab post 197 on the board.
Twitter reacts –
The sight of Trent Boult turning Groundsman had the fans taking to Twitter and reacting. You can read all the tweets below.
— WPL MAHARASTRA (@WMaharastra) April 5, 2023
Bro!
— Divyansh Dangwal (@DivyanshDangwal) April 5, 2023
This guy #PrabhsimranSingh smashed #Trentboult for six. (The shot and the confidence)
Prabh simran knocked trent boult right off his fucking Perch.
— Levi (@Goaxt7) April 5, 2023
That straight six
Teams that give wickets to Trent Boult inside powerplay struggle to win matches against RR.
— Gappa Cricket (@GappaCricket) April 5, 2023
Prabhsimran Singh has scored a fifty, his feet against Trent Boult moved in a way perfectly, his start was for bowlers upsetting and he was onto his responsibility. ♥️ pic.twitter.com/vhsdIcIuP2
— Sajawal (@Sajawal28305609) April 5, 2023
Prabhsimran Singh 👏🏿 #IPL23
— Matthew Letford (@MLetford10) April 5, 2023
Well played Prabhsimran Singh!!
— Soham M II DIAMOND KUMAR YADAV (@112of51Rajkot) April 5, 2023
My intuitions a bit working for him!!#IPL23 pic.twitter.com/aDlVgbVby7
Prabhsimran Singh - the 22 year old rising star of Punjab Kings!
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) April 5, 2023
60 in just 34 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes. He gave a blistering start to Punjab in the powerplay, a sensational innings by Prabhsimran! pic.twitter.com/R5guWSpOtJ