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Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket: Ashutosh Sharma gave yet another exhibition of his incredible ball-striking ability in the death overs by making a 16-ball 31 to propel Punjab Kings to a respectable 147/8 against Rajasthan Royals at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium here on Saturday.

On a pitch that seems a little tricky to bat, PBKS suffered a top-order meltdown as RR nailed the length and pace of deliveries very well and forced them to play poor shots, leading to their downfall. After Jitesh Sharma made 29, Ashutosh brought some late fireworks for PBKS to amass 61 runs in the last five overs. For RR, Keshav Maharaj took 2-23 in an impressive middle-overs spell while Avesh Khan also had two scalps to his name. Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult and Kuldeep Sen took a wicket each in a disciplined bowling performance for RR.

Pushed into batting first, Atharva Taide got PBKS going by hitting back-to-back drives in the cover region off Kuldeep, before bringing out another drive against Boult in the next over. His promising start couldn’t become a big knock as he top-edged a pull off Avesh and with both Kuldeep plus Sanju Samson in contention to take the catch, it was taken by the former despite a minor collision.