The toss was won by Sanju Samson, captain of the Rajasthan Royals (RR), and he chose to bowl first in Guwahati. RR and PBKS both kept their starting lineup the same. PBKS started off strong by scoring 63 runs in the first five overs of the game while losing zero wickets. Bowlers were no match for Prabhsimran Singh‘s playful antics. He felt confident, scored a fifty in his first IPL game, and was in full beast mode.
Right-arm pacer KM Asif struggled mightily, yielding 28 runs in his first two overs. Prabhsimran Singh was an odd duck since he didn’t shrink from devastation brought on by the likes of Trent Boult and Ravichandran Ashwin. The strike was maximised for Prabhsimran Singh by Shikhar Dhawan.
Sanju Samson was becoming nervous since the pitch appeared to be a belter and no strategy seemed to be working. This match should be exciting because both RR and PBKS have won all of their IPL matches thus far.
With Prabhsimran Singh at 59 runs off 32 balls and Shikhar Dhawan at 23 runs off 22 balls, PBKS had a total of 86-0 after 9 overs. In the 10th over, Jason Holder bowled a short delivery to Prabhsimran, who was attempting to hit Buttler over the far off fielder but mistimed it.
Watch- Jos Buttler takes a screamer
Jos Buttler ran a long way and made a difficult catch in the air because time was of the essence. Prabhsimran Singh was out for 60 after hitting 7 fours and 3 sixes in 34 balls. The removal of Prabhsimran Singh as leader has the potential to hinder progress. In 9.4 overs, PBKS scored 90 runs.
What. A. Take 💪@josbuttler puts in a magnificent dive to dismiss the well set Prabhsimran for 60!@rajasthanroyals with their first wicket.#TATAIPL | #RRvPBKS pic.twitter.com/apJpCQmqjf
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2023
Crucial Phase for PBKS
Since dew might potentially enter the game later in the match, when defence would be difficult, PBKS should shoot for a score higher than 200. One of Sam Curran or Sikander Raza, both of whom can speed things up and raise the stakes in the middle overs, is likely to be promoted.
As Shikhar Dhawan struggles to get over the boundary, RR realises they have an opportunity to reduce the run rate. Ashwin and Chahal’s roles would be crucial because of the need of preventing batsmen from rotating the strike. Sanju Samson would love to see a string of dismissals go his way.
