Unlucky Mustafiz, Samson ton in vain, Royals lose

Bangladesh pace bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman had a shaky start in his IPL 2021 for Rajasthan Royals after proving extremely costly in the team’s four-run defeat in a high-scoring thriller against Punjab Kings on Monday night at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. 

The 25-year-old left-armed, who played his first match for Royals in the season, haemorrhaged 45 runs in four overs and remained wicketless after Royals opted to bowl first. 

Mustafiz was a bit unlucky in his first match with his team’s wicketkeeper Buttler putting down dangerous Deepak Hooda’s catch in Mustafiz’s third over. Hooda then finished a brisk 28-ball 64 that changed the complexion of the innings. 

Mustafiz could even get his first wickets in this IPL in his very first over when a Mustifiz’s delivery struck Agarwal’s pad but Mustafiz did not take the review. The TV reply, however, showed Agarwal was out.  

Meanwhile, Royals skipper Sanju Samson’s counter-attacking century gave Punjab a scare before they recovered to post a thrilling final-over win.

Chasing a mammoth 222, Royals lost two wickets within the powerplay overs before Samson counterattacked with an amazing 63-ball 119 to bring them back in the hunt. As it turned out, Punjab managed to stave off the threat.

Needing 13 runs in the final over, Arshdeep Singh kept his cool and conceded just eight runs to seal Punjab Kings’ first win.

With six required off the final ball, Samson filed to hit a lofted six and was caught in the final ball. But with his magnificent innings, Samson became the player of the match. His innings was laced by 12 fours and seven towering sixes. 

Earlier, riding on opener KL Rahul’s 50-ball 91 and Deepak Hooda’s blazing 64, Punjab managed to cross 220 after put into bat first. 

Mustafiz was picked by the Rajasthan-based franchise for Rs 1 crore in the IPL 2021 auction in Chennai. Rajasthan were the only bidders for Mustafiz and they got him at his base price after the very first call.