At the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh, on Saturday, April 13, Punjab Kings batter Ashutosh Sharma continued to be a shining light at the bat for his team as he played his third consecutive vital innings against the Rajasthan Royals.
With his team behind 103/6 after 16.1 overs, the 25-year-old came in to bat and did not spend any time getting settled in and hitting at full speed from the outset. Ashutosh helped Punjab record a decent total of 147/8 in their allotted 20 overs with a quick-fire cameo of 31 off 16 balls, one four, and three sixes.
Ashutosh’s outrageous slog over Avesh Khan in the 19th over stole the show in an innings full of vicious strokeplay. The right-arm seamer hit a decent-length delivery that was aimed at his stumps on the third ball of the over. Nevertheless, the PBKS batsman saw the line fast and went to one knee to hoick the ball deep mid-wicket for a maximum. He hit him for six again, two balls later, this time using a flat bat to deliver a slower ball over long off.
View the shot of Ashutosh Sharma here:
Another edition of the Ashu-Show in Mullanpur 🔥🔥#TATAIPL #IPLonJioCinema #PBKSvRR pic.twitter.com/z9zcmns84O
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) April 13, 2024
Having scored 95 runs from three innings at an average of 47.50 and a strike rate of 197.91, the 25-year-old is enjoying a successful season with the bat. But even with his heroic hit, the young player was unable to prevent his team from losing.
Rajasthan crosses the finish line behind Shimron Hetmyer
Returning to the field, Punjab was placed to bat first and labored through their innings until managing to score 147/8 in the 20 overs allowed to them, thanks to strikes from Jitesh Sharma (29 off 24), Liam Livingstone (21 off 14), and Ashutosh Sharma.
Also read: IPL 2024 Qualifying Scenarios: How can the Punjab Kings, who lost to RR, make it to the playoffs?
Rajasthan, in response, struggled to score runs on the sluggish surface as well, but in the last over, they managed to do so thanks to a brilliant cameo from Shimron Hetmyer (27* off 10). In addition to him, Riyan Parag (23 off 18) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (39 off 28) also made significant contributions. After winning, Rajasthan held the top spot on the points table with 10 points from six games, while Punjab dropped to eighth place with 4 points from 6 games.
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