Punjab XI vs Rajasthan XI 32nd Match at Dubai, 21 Sep, 2021

Toss: Punjab, who chose to bowl
Rajasthan XI 185/10 (20)
Punjab XI 183/4 (20)
Rajasthan Royals won by 2 runs
Man of the Match: Kartik Tyagi

    Over 19.6 Kartik Tyagi bowls a pitched up delivery to Fabian Allen, no run, gets forward and went through the shot, the ball beats the outside edge of the bat.

    Rajasthan Royals won by 2 runs

    Punjab needed 10 off 15, 8 off 12 and finally, just 4 off the final over. And yet, they have ended up losing by a couple of runs. Lost for words here. But spare a thought for young Tyagi. WIth hardly anything to defend in the final over, he stuck to his guns and bowled brilliantly.

    (KL Rahul | Punjab Kings): It's a tough one to swallow. We have been a team that has experienced games like these before. We need to see how we can handle pressure better. Trying to finish in the 18th over sometimes you go too hard and lose your way and let the opponents in. We haven't learnt from previous mistakes. We will now try to come back stronger and win the next five games. We pulled things back quite nicely with the ball, kept taking wickets, which is very crucial in this format. Getting runs for me, Mayank and even Aiden in his first IPL game was important.

    Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals): It's funny that we kept believing (that we could win). I kept the overs of Mustafizur and Tyagi for the end, believing. Cricket is a funny game right. We just kept fighting and believing. I always believe in my bowlers, want to keep fighting and that's why I kept those two overs till the end. To be very honest, to get that score on this wicket, we felt good because we had the bowling. If we took the catches, we could have won the game earlier. People have really worked hard on their fitness.

    Kartik Tyagi | Player of the Match: I was injured during the India leg of the IPL and by the time I got fit, the tournament was suspended. Felt sad. So this feels really good. I have been talking to people over the years and they keep telling me that things keep changing in this format, so I need to keep believing. I've always heard from everyone and also watched games in this format where strange things have happened. Today, I was fortunate to play a big role in something special. I was bowling a bit too short earlier, later worked on it consciously after getting a lot of feedback.