Vusumuzi Dube
Brandon Moyo, Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWEAN all-rounder Sikandar Raza’s perfect start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Punjab Kings continued on Wednesday after the team triumphed by five runs over Rajasthan Royals in their second match at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.
Wednesday’s win was their second victory for the Kings who won their season opener on Saturday. It was however not a good day in the office for the Chevrons star. Raza fell for one with the bat as Kings posted 197/4 in 20 overs and did not take any wickets as they restricted their opponents to 192/7 in their 20 overs.
The Shikhar Dhawan captained Punjab Kings team lost the toss and were sent in to bat first and Raza came in to bat at number five and was dismissed by a brilliant Ravichandran Ashwin delivery in just his second ball. Dhawan went on to play a captain’s knock, finishing undefeated on 86 runs from 56 balls as he became the third batter after David Warner and Virat Kohli to record 50 scores of 50-plus in the IPL. His opening partner, Prabhsimran Singh fell for 60 runs off 34 deliveries while Jitesh Sharma had 27 runs from 16 balls for the Kings.
Jason Holder finished with the best bowling figures for Royals, taking two wickets for 29 runs in his four over spell while Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal took one scalp each for 25 and 50 runs respectively in four overs as well.
Raza bowled two overs and did not take any wickets, giving away 24 runs at an economy rate of 12 runs per over. Nathan Ellis starred with the ball for the Kings, finishing with figures of 4/30 in four overs while Arshdeep Singh took two wickets for 47 runs in four overs at an economy of 11.75. Sam Curran did not manage to take any wickets as well in his four over spell, conceding 44 runs at 11 an over.
There were no half centuries from the Royals with the top scorer being their skipper Sanju Samson who compiled 42 runs from 25 balls while Shimron Hetmyer scored 36 runs from 18 deliveries before he was run out.
Wednesday’s win took the Kings to four points and they are sitting in second position in the log standings, tied on points with leaders and defending champions, Gujarat Titans. Their next match is on Sunday against bottom placed Sunrisers Hyderabad, who will play their second match of the season today against Lucknow Super Giants.
Raza became only the third Zimbabwean to play in the biggest franchise league in the world with the others being Raymond Price and Tatenda Taibu. Brendan Taylor was in 2024 signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad but never got to travel to India after delaying his trip to the Asian nation due to his wedding. He was therefore placed on standby but was never called up. –
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