As it happened - Jaiswal and Archer hand PBKS first defeat of IPL 2025

What a finish. Archer picks up his third wicket with the penultimate ball of the match, and Lockie Ferguson ends things with a last-ball four. It's the only boundary PBKS hit in the last 5.4 overs of their innings. And that is that, it seems.

But it isn't, as the umpires take an age to determine whether RR had the requisite four fielders inside the 30-yard circle before Archer bowled that last ball. It's what they have to do, of course, no matter what the state of the match is. In any case, they're eventually satisfied that RR's fielders were where they needed to be.

Thumping win for RR, and some big boxes ticked along the way: runs for Jaiswal, a continuation of the rhythm Archer showed against CSK, a terrific display from their Sri Lankan spin pair. RR now have back-to-back wins after starting the season with two losses, and PBKS have tasted defeat for the first time this season. Delhi Capitals are the only unbeaten team left in the tournament.

Second wicket for Theekshana, fires one full and flat at Marco Jansen's legs and gets him to whip in the air, without a great deal of power, to the diving Shimron Hetmyer at deep midwicket. PBKS are 145 for 8.

The time for bad puns is upon us. One of those bits of defensive skill that Sandeep Sharma uses so well. Slower bouncer wide of off stump, gets up pretty high, and Suryansh Shedge has to manufacture all the power on his uppercut, and can't control it either. Hits it down the throat of deep point, and PBKS are 136 for 7.

First up, a Yuzvendra Chahal kind of wicket for Theekshana. Legcutter bowled quite full, and very wide of off stump. Asks Maxwell to fetch it if he wants. At this stage of the innings, with PBKS needing 75 off 31, Maxwell pretty much had to take it on. Can't connect cleanly, slices it high, and holes out to long-off. PBKS are 131 for 5.

Then, first ball of the next over, Wadhera looks to take on Hasaranga with the slog-sweep. Again it's smartly bowled, with Hasaranga floating the ball across the left-hander and landing it wide of off stump. Really has to stretch and reach for the ball, and he can't clear the man at deep midwicket. PBKS are 131 for 6 now, and you'd think it's all over, even if the dangerous Shashank Singh is at the crease.

Nehal Wadhera made an impressive debut for PBKS in their last match against LSG, scoring an unbeaten 43 off 25. That was as Impact Sub, though, so he had his official cap presentation only today, when he was part of their starting XI for the first time.

And he's playing another excellent innings here. Brings up a 33-ball fifty with a sashay down the pitch to launch Hasaranga down the ground for six. PBKS end the 14th over needing 85 in 36 balls. Wadhera and Maxwell have put on 78 in 46 so far.

Interesting moment in the 13th over. Maxwell misses a flick off a full ball from Yudhvir Singh that's speared down the leg side. No one seemed to think much of this except for Sanju Samson, who appealed as soon as he collected the ball down the leg side, immediately signalling to the umpire that he was reviewing as well.

Did he hear something? Was there any bat on it?

Maxwell's body language suggested there may have been. He began removing his gloves and strolling off - though he didn't go too far. Then Ultra Edge came up and showed no spike, even though the ball seemed to pass veeeerrrrry close to the bat.

Did Ultra Edge let off Maxwell? Or was there no edge, and was Maxwell messing with the opposition players? Who can say.

Two fours from Maxwell in that 13th over too, both behind square on the off side: a back-away ramp off a short ball angled into him, and then a reverse-swat. PBKS need 96 from 42.

The two hugely experienced Sri Lankan spinners have reeled PBKS back in after that expensive over from Kartikeya. One slog-swept six from Wadhera even in this little quiet spell, but what was notable was how well Hasaranga responded to it. Pulls his length back to Wadhera, pitching leg and turning towards off with his wrong'uns, pitching too short to play off the front foot and not short enough to pull. And then, to Maxwell, everything fired into the pads, no room to free his arms.

PBKS get hold of Kartikeya in the 10th over, with Maxwell launching him for a big six over long-on and Wadhera slog-sweeping him for another over midwicket. In between, some typical Maxwell dexterity to manufacture a paddle-swept four fine of short fine leg.

PBKS are still up against it, of course. They need 128 from the last ten overs.

Three overs out of the first eight of the innings, I mean. Sanju Samson may have used up that third over because Archer was running so hot, constantly clocking upwards of 145kph, or because Glenn Maxwell was in and he wanted to try and get him out quickly. Whatever the idea may have been, the over is wicketless, even though Archer went past Nehal Wadhera's edge on one occasion, and PBKS are 50 for 4 in eight overs.

Their required rate is now exactly 13.

The powerplay ends, and RR bring on their Impact Sub Kumar Kartikeya, who had come onto the field a couple of overs earlier for Nitish Rana. This bowler of left-arm allsorts strikes with his second ball, not a particularly threatening ball. Bowls a wristspinner - possibly the wrong'un - and Prabhsimran Singh slog-sweeps it straight into deep midwicket's hands.

PBKS are 43 for 4 in 6.2 overs, and Glenn Maxwell is at the crease.

Marcus Stoinis was getting through a testing start, with Archer nipping the new ball around at pace. He'd got to 1 off 6. Then he falls to what seems like a most innoccuous delivery, a good-length ball from Sandeep Sharma, not a slower ball or anything, but a regular good-length ball that may have slightly stopped on him. Checks his on-the-up drive, and ends up popping a hip-high return catch.

PBKS are 26 for 3 in 3.3 overs.

Phew, what a start. PBKS lose supersub Priyansh Arya first ball, the left-hander playing down the wrong line as Archer nips a length ball past his outside edge to hit the top of off. Then he ends the over with a massive, massive wicket, attacking the stumps and forcing Shreyas Iyer to pay the penalty for making room to crash him through the off side.

A bit overambitious from Iyer? Maybe, but you can kind of see why, because he timed the ball like a dream in his brief stay at the crease, stroking Archer for two effortless fours through the covers before his dismissal.

PBKS are 11 for 2 after the first over.

Yashasvi Jaiswal’s first half-century of IPL 2025, and an unbeaten 25-ball 43 from Riyan Parag provided the sparks at the start and finish for Rajasthan Royals to become the first team to post a 200-plus IPL total in Mullanpur. With the rest of the top six also chipping in handily, RR suffered no major lulls through their innings despite Punjab Kings’ bowlers finding a little bit of help from a surface that appeared two-paced from time to time.

The PBKS seamers got their slower balls to grip quite nicely on this surface, but RR’s batters kept finding the big hits in between. There were 10 sixes in all, with Jaiswal hitting five of them and Parag three.

Whether conditions remain similar through the chase could determine the direction of this match. At the toss, Shreyas Iyer chose to bowl in PBKS’s first home game of the season with the expectation of dew in the second innings.

Iyer may have hoped for early wickets to keep RR’s total down, but that didn’t quite materialise even though left-arm quicks Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen found early swing. Jaiswal was the beneficiary of a few plays and misses, but having got that early bit of luck, he was soon on his way with back-to-back sixes off Jansen in the fourth over.

With Sanju Samson timing the ball well too, RR had their first wicketless powerplay of the season, getting to 53 for no loss in the first six. They slowed down somewhat after that, scoring just 39 off the next five overs and losing Samson in the 11th over, but Jaiswal floored the accelerator thereafter, rushing from 46 off 39 to 67 off 44 before being bowled by a Lockie Ferguson knuckle ball in the 14th over.

Parag’s innings followed a similar pattern. He struggled early on, particularly against Arshdeep’s slower ball, and was on 12 off 14 at one point in the 16th over. Then he got to grips with the surface, and hit 31 off his last 11 balls. With Nitish Rana, Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel contributing cameos at the other end, RR went past 200 in the final over of the innings.

Arshdeep Singh has got his cutters to grip this pitch more than most of his colleagues today, and he finishes with figures of 1 for 35 in his four overs. Concedes just nine runs and the one boundary off the 19th over, and gets Shimron Hetmyer with a low full-toss that he skews for a high catch to long-on.

RR are 186 for 4 at the start of the final over.

Highly eventful 18th over from Jansen. Two beautifully struck sixes, the second an effortless flick off his toes over backward square leg. Then he miscues one a mile high only for Jansen, turning around and running towards the straight mid-on area while having to track the ball over his shoulder, fails to get his hands under the ball. Then Parag mistimes another hit down the ground, and it falls well short of long-on.

In any case, 17 runs come off the over, and RR are 177 for 3 in 18 overs.

Only one winner in the first four balls of the 16th over, with Arshdeep slanting slower cutter after slower cutter across Parag and getting the ball to turn away while losing a lot of pace off the pitch. Four dots, and Parag swung and missed at a couple of them.

But then, after a pause to catch his breath and have a chat with his partner Shimron Hetmyer, he hits the last two balls of the over for four. The first is slanted very wide, almost a wide yorker, and he reaches out and slices it away, partly off the edge, over short third. Then Arshdeep bowls another slowie across Parag, but he holds his shape nicely this time and flat-bats it powerfully, back past the bowler.

It's been a pretty good day for slower balls so far. Marco Jansen bowls predominantly slower balls through the 15th over, and strikes with one bowled wide of off stump, possibly as a reaction to seeing Nitish Rana step leg-side to make room. Loses his shape as he tries to reach out and carve it away, and is caught by Maxwell on the cover point boundary.

Rana had stormed off the blocks, stroking two pristine off-side fours off his first two legal balls, but he's gone now for 12 off seven. RR are 138 for 3 in 14.4 overs.

After getting Samson, Lockie now gets Jaiswal for 67 off 45. A slower knuckleball angled into the stumps, and Jaiswal is bowled, through his slog a little too early after clearing his front leg.

It's an extremely timely strike, because this had happened in the 12th and 13th overs:

Jaiswal hit two fours and two sixes off Chahal and Stoinis, and Riyan Parag chipped in with a controlled hook over short fine off a Stoinis slower bouncer.

He's not quite found full fluency on a pitch where spin and slower balls have gripped a little. Gets to his fifty off his 40th ball, clearing his front leg to drill a Chahal half-volley down the ground for four. Then he slog-sweeps the next ball for six, and RR end the 12th over at 105 for 1.

A wicket for Lockie Ferguson, with some credit going to Chahal and Stoinis for bowling boundary-free ninth and tenth overs. At 85 for 0 at the halfway mark, Sanju Samson decides now is the time to go, and he hits one four off a slower half-volley, but doesn't quite get underneath the next ball, also full but quicker, and shovels it straight to mid-off.

RR are 89 for 1, and Samson is out for 38 off 26.

PBKS have gone into this game with only four frontline bowlers, which means Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis will have to bowl at least four overs between them.

They've got two of those overs out of the way now, Maxwell bowling the sixth and Stoinis the eighth. RR only managed six off Maxwell's first over, with the offspinner denying both batters width for most part, and only seven off Stoinis' first, with the big medium-pacer bowling his slower cutters into the pitch and not giving the batters either width or pace to use, for most part. Just two fours off those 12 balls.

RR have only scored 29 runs in four overs since taking 19 off the fourth. They're now 69 for no loss in eight.

Pretty good powerplay for Royals, their first without a wicket this season. Jaiswal's batting on 32 off 22, and Samson on 20 off 14.

Powerplay done, and here's a battle we've been waiting for: Yuzvendra Chahal against his old team.

Interesting start from Jaiswal. A couple of slashes and misses, a mistimed hoick that juuuust clears a backtracking mid-on, and just 12 runs off his first 14 balls, but maybe all he needed was a bit of time at the crease, and a bit of luck. He's now up and running, having hit Jansen for back-to-back sixes in the fourth over - a ramp over the keeper off a bouncer, and a cleared-front-leg slog over midwicket.

He's now on 25 on 17, and RR are 40 for no loss in four overs.

PBKS start with two left-arm quicks, and there's a bit of early swing from both Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen. They've both beaten slashes from Yashasvi Jaiswal, but there are also signs that the ball is coming onto the bat quite nicely, with Sanju Samson timing a back-foot clip beautifully past mid-on in the first over and not getting a boundary for it only because of Glenn Maxwell's engine and athleticism chasing back.

RR are 13 for no loss after two overs.

Playing at their home ground for the first time this season, Punjab Kings have chosen to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals. While conditions are something of an unknown in Mullanpur's first game of the season, PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer expected dew to have an effect.

Bowling first for the second game in a row, PBKS made one change from their starting XI in their previous game, with Nehal Wadhera coming in for Priyansh Arya. Wadhera had come in as Impact Sub in that game and scored an unbeaten 25-ball 43, but he nonetheless received a new cap before this game. Arya is on PBKS's subs bench, and could come in for the second innings.

Sanju Samson was back as RR's captain and wicketkeeper after a finger injury had restricted him to an Impact Sub's role in their first three games. He was happy to be back after feeling "restless and helpless" watching his team from the dugout for three games.

Other than the captaincy going back to Samson from Riyan Parag, RR made one change from their previous game, with Yudhvir Singh coming into their pace attack in place of Tushar Deshpande, who was ruled out with a niggle.

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Sanju Samson (capt & wk), 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag, 5 Dhruv Jurel, 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Yudhvir Singh, 11 Sandeep Sharma.

RR bench: Kunal Singh Rathore, Shubham Dubey, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal.

Punjab Kings: 1 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 2 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 3 Nehal Wadhera, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Suryansh Shedge, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.

PBKS bench: Priyansh Arya, Harpreet Brar, Pravin Dubey, Vishnu Vinod, Vijaykumar Vyshak.