Local boy and RR star carries team to 144 but narrowly misses 50 vs Punjab Kings
GUWAHATI: He came, he saw and he laboured. Riyan Parag's story sums up the Rajasthan Royals innings on Wednesday as the local boy's matured and labourious 34-ball 48 helped the 'home' team to a painstaking 144 for nine wickets against Punjab Kings in their first of the two matches here at Barsapara Cricket Stadium.
Out of the race for Qualifiers, Punjab Kings bowlers put up a disciplined show to never allow any freebies to the Royals batters and restricted them to below-par score in the end despite Riyan's responsible innings and a cameo by Ravichandran Ashwin at No. 5.
Punjab captain Sam Curran, Rahul Chahar and Harshal Patel took two wickets each while Arshdeep Singh and Nathan Ellis scalped one apiece at good economy rate to always keep the break on the Royals batters as they could never break free in a track which looked like a belter at the toss.
Opting to bat first, Sanju Samson & Co. never got off to a start they were looking for at their second home. Explosive English opener Jos Buttler's departure ensured the Indian Premier League (IPL) debut for his compatriot Tom Kohler-Cadmore but the uncapped England opener failed to provide the breezy start Butler is known for. He returned to the pavilion scoring 18 off 23 balls after India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal had departed in the first over itself, inside edging an inswinging Curran delivery to rattle his stumps.
Royals could put up only 38/1 in Powerplay, one of their slowest starts this season, and were reduced to 42/3 in 7.2 overs, scoring at below 6 per over.
Captain Samson, who broke the 500-run mark for the first time in a single season this IPL, also failed to accelerate and returned scoring 15-ball 18 while trying to make a shot out of nothing in the seventh over.
Riyan's well-paced innings was the need of the hour beside Ashwin's little cameo in the middle where the off-spinning allrounder scored 19-ball 28 with three fours and a six. Ashwin hit a six and two boundaries in the last three balls of the 12th over to bring the half-full stands in its feet.
However, Riyan carried his bat through the middle to help a struggling Royals put up a respectable total. He fell short of a well-deserved half-century, which could have been his first 50 in front of the home crowd, in the last over.
His frustration on missing the feat so narrowly was clearly visible while slowly walking back to the dugout but the youngster's shining season got brighter as his total this IPL swelled to 531 from 13 games, by far the best in his six seasons in the cash-rich league.
