The Rajasthan Royals (RR) were back to winning ways in the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 after defeating Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 6 wickets on Saturday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Yuzvendra Chahal scalped an impressive three-wicket haul before Yashasvi Jaiswal announced his comeback with a superb half-century and powered RR to a 6-wicket victory.  

Chasing 190 to win, RR scored 14 off the first over after Yashasvi Jaiswal struck two fours and a six against Sandeep Sharma. 

Jos Buttler announced his entry with a giant six followed by three fours but the RR opener was dismissed on the final delivery by Kagiso Rabada and was caught at short third man. RR skipper Sanju Samson hit three fours and RR were 67-1 after 6 overs. 

Rishi Dhawan managed to break the 39-run partnership after Samson was caught by Dhawan in the 8^th over. 

RR were 95-2 at the halfway stage. Jaiswal reached his half-century after creaming two fours. 14 runs came off the 13^th over as Jaiswal smacked three fours against Rishi Dhawan.

The fifty partnership was up between Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal. Arshdeep Singh put an end to the partnership by scalping the vital wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal. 

With 39 required off 24 deliveries, Hetmyer smacked two consecutive fours to bring RR closer. 16 runs came from the 18^th over bowled by Rabada after Hetmyer dispatched a full-toss and Padikkal added two fours. 

Arshdeep Singh conceded only 3 runs in the penultimate over as RR required 8 off the final over. Hetmyer clubbed a six in the final over and RR chased down the total with 4 balls to spare.

Earlier, PBKS, who opted to bat first, remained unchanged from their previous victory. Openers – Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan started steadily with the bat. 

Bairstow was up and running with five fours and a six. However, Dhawan was dismissed by Ashwin after Buttler grabbed an excellent one-hand catch at mid-on. 

PBKS were 48-1 at the end of 6 overs before Rajapaksa struck his first maximum of the innings. The left-handed batter formed a crucial partnership with Bairstow, who was leading the charge with the bat for PBKS.

At the halfway stage, PBKS were 88-1 before Rajapaksa was cleaned up by Yuzvendra Chahal. Skipper Mayank Agarwal, who was the new batter at the crease, creamed two fours against Ashwin. 

Bairstow reached his half-century before Chahal took two wickets in quick succession to dismiss both Agarwal and Bairstow. While Agarwal holed out to the deep, Bairstow was trapped LBW by the spinner. 

New batter Liam Livingstone launched his first maximum and PBKS were 132-4 with four overs to go. Jitesh Sharma crunched two consecutive fours and a six and PBKS were 158-4 with two overs to go. 

Livingstone added a four and a six but Prasidh Krishna rattled the stumps to dismiss the all-rounder. Jitesh Sharma provided an excellent finishing touch with a six and two fours as PBKS posted 189-5 in the first innings.    

Brief Scores:  Rajasthan Royals 190/4 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 68, Shimron Hetmyer 30*; Arshdeep Singh 2-29) beat Punjab Kings 189/5 (Jonny Bairstow 56, Jitesh Sharma 38*; Yuzvendra Chahal 3-28) by 6 wickets.