Live - Wadhera and Brar keep PBKS' push for the playoffs going strong

The break in the IPL witnessed the departure of two huge pillars of Indian cricket. It resumed with a 23-year-old and a 14-year-old took batting to new heights. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi put on a 76 run opening partnership where 74 runs had come in boundaries. But even with that head start it was heartbreak for Rajasthan Royals as they lost by 10 runs. Punjab Kings are now up to 17 points. They aren't assured of a playoffs spot just yet but it looks like a matter of time.

Arshdeep Singh went for 22 runs in the first over of the innings. Now with the game on the line, he bowls a box office 19th over, nailing his yorkers and banging knuckle balls into the pitch and messing with the batters' timing and bat-swing. Funnily enough, RR need 22 runs again off the last over to win the game. Arshdeep walks up to Jansen who bowls the last over for some advice as well. His day's turned right round.

Jurel had a strike rate of 109 against spin before today. He took 15 off 13 against Brar and Chahal, hitting Chahal for a six. He's done a lot of damage when pace was back on the ball though. His season strike rate against pace was already 179. Today its up at 231. He's got a fifty now, off 28 balls. Can he make it a match-winning one?

Twenty eight batters have made at least 50 runs batting in the death overs across the season in IPL 2025. Shimron Hetmyer is a finisher. It is a deeply difficult job because he gets no time at exactly the time T20 matches are decided and he needs to make a positive impact. This season, it's just not worked for him. Of those 28 batters with at least 50 runs in overs 16-20, Hetmyer has the fifth-lowest strike rate (151). Today's not his day either. He falls for 11 off 12.

Dhruv Jurel, who's had his own struggles, particularly in trying to hit out against spin this season, was bailing Hetmyer out. He's still there on 41 off 25. RR need 39 off 16 balls. Impact Sub Shubham Dubey is the new batter.

They hit 14 fours and five sixes in the powerplay. Then went silent. Just four boundaries in the next eight overs. Now Jurel and Hetmyer are starting to pick up the pace. Here are the 15th and 16th overs from Chahal and Omarzai

It's his final over. And he takes down a big threat. Parag hit two sixes off Omarzai. It looked like he'd found his touch. But here, he's deceived by the skid that the left-arm spinner gets. Brar goes into the pitch. Parag picks up on that and goes on the back foot to pull, but the ball doesn't bounce as much. Brar doesn't want it to. Lovely work. Lovely bit of deception. Shimron Hetmyer's the new batter. He's had a patchy season. And first ball he faces is a seam-up bouncer from Brar (4-0-22-3).

RR have preferred going into games with five full bowlers. Wanindu Hasaranga at his best could have balanced them out better but his batting has not clicked. So once their in-form batters are gone, uncertainty creeps into their game. The lack of batting depth plays a part here. If they had that depth, they'd keep hitting. They'd finish games quicker. Without it, they've had to take games deep and then play the lottery and its resulted in their losing a lot of really close games, games that they seemed more than capable of winning.

Parag and Jurel trying to rebuild.

Since the powerplay, RR have only been able to hit one boundary. 89 for 1 in the first six. 30 for 2 in the next five. Brar is a big reason for this slowdown. Chahal from the other end has helped as well. Unable to hit the spinners, Samson tried to take on Omarzai in his first over and fell.

It sounds strange to say because Jaiswal was only out there to face 25 balls, but he fell to a tired shot. That's how much a high-intensity, T20 innings takes out of you. He can't have a balls-per-boundary rate of 2.5 without being infernally switched on and in the end his own fire consumed him.

Harpreet Brar is bringing Punjab Kings back into this game. Here are his overs. Bowled one in the powerplay. Got the benefit of a spread out field after that. Still had to deal with a left-handed batter for most of his spell. So he focused on two things - if he went full, he was not going to give them the chance to get under the ball. He offered no room. And if he went short, he bowled it quick and kept the stumps in play to deny the batter time to swing.

Yashasvi Jaiswal has the Orange cap now, with 512 runs and counting

PBKS' win probability at the start of the innings according to ESPNcricinfo's Forecaster was 72%. Suryavanshi and Jaiswal, in 29 balls of carnage, pushed RR's chances of winning to 65%. Momentum swings do not come bigger.

RR's rollicking opening partnership finally ends with 76 runs - 74 of those in boundaries. Harpreet Brar, the Impact Sub, dismisses Suryavanshi for 40 off 15. But just like the PBKS innings earlier, the wicket doesn't stop the run-flow. With Iyer subbed out, Shashank Singh is captaining PBKS and he's been pressed into having mini-meetings with the bowler and Arshdeep Singh

Still only dealing in boundaries. Sixty six in fours and sixes. One run off a wide. Suryavanshi, standing deep in his crease, getting the leverage he wants on the full balls. Jaiswal, simply trusting his attacking genius to hit along the ground. This has been a rollicking partnership

First run off the bat that isn't a boundary comes off 26th ball of the innings.

Eight fours, three sixes, one almost run-out because Jaiswal was trying to run on a direct hit, and the fifty up. All inside three overs. Fifty runs in boundaries. One run off a wide. That's the 51 for 0 in three overs.

Samson said it was important to respect the contribution 14-year-old Suryavanshi could make when he finally got his chance to play. That century - the second fastest in IPL history - in just his third IPL match has earned him his place at the top of the order over Samson who opens the batting for India in T20Is. And he's looking the part.

The PBKS captain has been subbed out. Has to be because he might not be 100%, right? But we couldn't spot him in any discomfort when he batted.

Yashasvi Jaiswal clearly woke up on the right side of the bed today.

Most runs for a batter in the first over of the IPL inns

Yashasvi Jaiswal 26 runs v KKR, 2023
Prithvi Shaw 24 runs v KKR, 2021
Yashasvi Jaiswal 22 runs v PBKS, Today
Sunil Narine 21 runs v RR, 2018
Naman Ojha 21 runs v KKR, 2009

Nehal Wadhera and Shashank Singh hit high-tempo half-centuries to help Punjab Kings to 219 for 5, a total they had no right reaching. Rajasthan Royals took three wickets in the first 19 balls but the decision to keep hitting paid huge dividends. PBKS still ended the powerplay with 58 on the board and it only got better from there.

Wadhera has been one of the unsung heroes of a batting line-up that doesn't like to take a step back. Six of his 10 innings this IPL have come at a strike rate of 150 or more. He takes spin on (SR 156, avg 84). He takes pace on (SR 160, avg 23) although the average suggests he goes a little too hard at the fast bowlers. Wadhera's presence through the middle overs had RR taking desperate measures. Tushar Deshpande, their best bowler, was already in death-overs mode, bowling yokers and bouncers and slower bouncers in just the 15th over.

Wadhera fell for 70 off 37, his highest score in T20 cricket. He could've been dismissed on 48 had Wanindu Hasaranga taken a tough return catch.

There were four overs still left in the innings. RR might have thought with the set batter gone, they might have a reprieve, but Shashank nailed the finisher's role to perfection. Riyan Parag could have had him for 11 off 10 had Dhruv Jurel at long-off not misjudged where the boundary line was while trying to take a catch. Shashank took flight after that, making a 27-ball half-century where he one-upped RR's plans of bowling wide yorkers by moving around in his crease - both sideways and back and forth - to find boundaries at just the right time. PBKS made 60 runs in the last four overs.

He scooped a wide yorker for four earlier in his innings from deep in his crease. Now he changes tactics and takes strike a foot and a half outside his crease so that he can meet those yorkers on the full. Madhwal adjusts to it well and still plants the ball where Shashank can't get under it. Good battle. And good from Madhwal. He's gone for runs but he's backing himself under pressure. Just nine off the 19th over.

Maphaka is taken down in the 18th over. PBKS have hit eight boundaries in 16 balls between the 16th and 18th overs.

Shashank could've been gone for 11 off 10. Instead, he's going strong at 40 off 20 having laid into Fazalhaq Farooqi in the 17th over.

Shashank is very cool for a finisher. One of his fours here was simply the result of his being aware of the field. The ball was wide. Point and third were up inside the circle. So he just dabbed it away in the gap. The six was a ball in the slot and he played the percentages, hitting down the ground. Has a real good head on his shoulders.

Akash Madhwal has taken a pounding today (5 fours, 2 sixes) but with the 18th ball he bowls, he might just have brought his team back into this game. Nehal Wadhera is gone and at this stage of the innings, that's huge. It means RR can bowl their last four overs without worrying about the set batter and the damage he can do. Lovely innings from Wadhera, and he fell for 70 off 37 looking for the big shot, which is a much nicer way to go. It's how T20 needs to be played.

Deshpande in death overs mode in the 15th over itself, going yorkers and bouncers and slower bouncers. Can the Royals build on his efforts?

With seven overs to go, ESPNcricinfo's forecaster suggests PBKS will make 216. That's on the basis of having a set batter out there, paired with one of their best finishers, and the general trend of runs being scored heavily in the back end.

Riyan Parag should've had a wicket and closed out the 14th over for just four runs. Instead, it goes for 10 because Dhruv Jurel at the long-off boundary has misjudged a simple catch, worried that he was too close to the boundary line when he wasn't. An impromptu change in bowling action, where Parag round-armed it in, should've had Shashank Singh back in the hut

Wadhera's played two gorgeous shots that emphasise how good he is against spin. In the 10th over, he picked Wanindu Hasaranga's googly and launched him down the ground with a straight bat. In the 12th over, he picked the bowler's legbreak and slog swept him over midwicket. In between, PBKS had lost their captain but Wadhera's confidence in his game is so good that it doesn't matter. Wadhera does survive a dropped catch on 48. That time he didn't pick Hasaranga's googly, his bat face turning too soon and a leading edge popping back to Hasaranga who couldn't hold on.

A dangerous partnership is broken with Riyan Parag showing his batting smarts with ball in hand. He bowls around the wicket to sharpen the angle across the right-hander. He hangs it wide, hoping to mitigate Iyer's power by making him reach away from his body. That's what Iyer has to do to try and make contact to the ball immediately after hitting Parag for a boundary. Doesn't come off.

Nehal Wadhera's been a really good pick for PBKS in the middle order. Six of his 10 innings so far have come at a strike rate of 150 or more. He's hits both spin (SR 150, avg 74) and pace (156, avg 23) although that average suggests he goes too hard against pace. The only thing missing is the big innings. He has time today.

The wickets haven't prevented Iyer and Wadhera from going for the big shots. Iyer's strike rate this season is 177, which is comfortably his highest in an IPL season, beating 146 from IPL 2024.

Royals suffered five powerplays (in 13 games) where they couldn't pick up a single wicket. It's a big reason why their campaign this season is already done.

We are hearing on comms that there is more grass at one end than the other, meaning the ball might stop from one end but come on nicely at the other.

A non-stop appeal from Tushar Deshpande - the only one going up really - is rewarded when DRS confirms a nick on the flick from Prabhsimran through to the keeper. Samson wasn't sure. He just collected the ball and was bemused when he saw his bowler, desperately trying to convince umpire Gaffaney to put his finger up. Gaffaney didn't, but the third umpire did.

Deshpande only had five wickets in eight games coming into this one. He played his last game on April 24. He's running in hard today, getting lovely carry through to the gloves. Seems like he's playing with a point to prove.

Kwena Maphaka once again finds the IPL a tough place to be. He had played two matches for MI the last season and leaked 89 runs in six overs. His first over this time goes for plenty too but he pulls one back by knocking over Mitch Owen.

After getting a life the previous ball, Arya pops a catch to mid-off. Samson said at the toss that he suspected the pitch would be slow at the start and there is evidence of that. Arya was into the shot too early and was trying to check it. The fields Samson is setting reflect the lack of pace as well. The dropped catch, by Farooqi, happened at a kind of leg slip position.

Fazalhaq Farooqi, playing his first game since May 1, looked out of sorts. Straying on the pads. Gifting full tosses.

Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and put faith in his "powerhouse" batting line-up by choosing to set a total. There were some changes to that XI that's been putting up those big runs with Marcus Stoinis and Josh Inglis still to return to the IPL. In their absence, BBL winner, with a century in the final this season, Mitch Owen, and fast bowler Xavier Bartlett get a go.

The break allowed Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson time to recover from his abdomen injury earlier this season and he seemed happy with the way the toss went, saying he wanted to bowl anyway. Samson based that on the way the pitch had behaved during the last match played on it, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, when it was a bit slow to start off.

Samson confirmed that RR will continue opening with 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi and it will be him shifting down the order to accommodate the youngster after his record-breaking century at the top of the order. Nitish Rana made way. The other change - along expected lines - was South Africa's Kwena Maphaka coming in for Jofra Archer who did not rejoin the team for the IPL's resumption.

PBKS bat-first XI: 1 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 2 Priyansh Arya, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Mitchell Owen, 5 Nehal Wadhera, 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Azmatullah Omarzai, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Xavier Bartlett, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Subs: Harpreet Brar, Pravin Dubey, Suryansh Shedge, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Musheer Khan

Rajasthan Royals bowl-first XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Sanju Samson (capt, wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel, Wanindu Hasaranga, Kwena Maphaka, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Madhwal, Fazalhaq Farooqi

Impact Subs: Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Singh, Kumar Kartikeya, Ashok Sharma, Kunal Rathore

Good news for Rajasthan Royals. Sanju Samson is fit and ready to play after suffering an abdomen injury earlier this season.

In the lead-up to the World Test Championship final, ESPNcricinfo, Star Sports and JioHotstar are inviting you to help us pick the greatest Test of the 21st century. In the voting bracket, we now have two Chepauk epics – 2001 versus 2008 and India’s fortress breach of Gabba 2021 against Laxman’s Mohali heist. What are your picks?