Punjab Kings (PBKS) clashed against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 66th match of the Indian Premier League 2023 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Friday, May 19. RR defeated PBKS by 4 wickets and with this loss, the Shikhar Dhawan-led team are eliminated from the tournament.
Meanwhile, during the PBKS’ star allrounder Liam Livingstone's dismissal, former Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan lash out at Livingstone for his attitude after getting out. RR speedster Navdeep Saini came to bowl the 7th over of the first inning and clean-bowled Livingstone on the 3rd delivery of the over after the English allrounder was seen smiling and was criticised by both Harbhajan and Yusuf.
“If we were coach, captain or mentor of Punjab Kings and you laugh after getting out to that sort of a shot then we will never pick you (to play in IPL) again,” said Pathan as Harbhajan agreed to it.
However, later, Harbhajan clarified on Twitter that those were not his words and ask the journalist, who stated that Harbhajan was also criticising Livingstone, to check before spreading the news. Here’s what he wrote on Twitter, “Plz listen again who said what before u tweet Mr”
Brilliant batting performance by RR
Talking about the match, RR won the toss and opted to bowl first. PBKS had a poor start as they lost Prabhsimran Singh on the second ball of the match. Atharva Taide and Shikhar Dhawan also found themselves back in the dugout with the scoreboard reading 48/3 at the end of the powerplay. Livingstone joined them soon after leaving Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma to do the heavy lifting. The duo added 64 runs for the fifth wicket, with the Indian scoring 44, before Navdeep Saini broke the partnership with his third scalp. The RR bowlers restricted PBKS batters, Shahrukh Khan and Curran. However, both of them switched gears in the last couple of overs amassing 46 runs to post a competitive total of 187/5.
Chasing the target, RR suffered a severe blow in the first over as Jos Buttler was dismissed on a duck. Devdutt Padikkal and Yashasvi Jaiswal joined forces after the dismissal blasting 73 runs from 49 balls with the former playing a knock of 51 runs. While RR managed to get off to a good start in the first half, they needed to score with a required run rate of 10.1 in the second half of the innings. And in the end, Dhruv Jurel finished the match with a maximum and helped the team register a four-wicket win and keep their chances of making the playoffs alive.
Here's how fans reacted:
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'Aap commentary se bhi sanyas lelo' - Fans react as Harbhajan Singh says he didn't criticise Liam Livingstone for his attitude after getting out against RR
Here's how fans reacted after Harbhajan Singh clarified that he didn't criticise Liam Livingstone for his attitude.
Liam Livingstone and Harbhajan Singh (Source - Twitter)
Punjab Kings (PBKS) clashed against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 66th match of the Indian Premier League 2023 at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala on Friday, May 19. RR defeated PBKS by 4 wickets and with this loss, the Shikhar Dhawan-led team are eliminated from the tournament.
Meanwhile, during the PBKS’ star allrounder Liam Livingstone's dismissal, former Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh and Yusuf Pathan lash out at Livingstone for his attitude after getting out. RR speedster Navdeep Saini came to bowl the 7th over of the first inning and clean-bowled Livingstone on the 3rd delivery of the over after the English allrounder was seen smiling and was criticised by both Harbhajan and Yusuf.
“If we were coach, captain or mentor of Punjab Kings and you laugh after getting out to that sort of a shot then we will never pick you (to play in IPL) again,” said Pathan as Harbhajan agreed to it.
However, later, Harbhajan clarified on Twitter that those were not his words and ask the journalist, who stated that Harbhajan was also criticising Livingstone, to check before spreading the news. Here’s what he wrote on Twitter, “Plz listen again who said what before u tweet Mr”
Brilliant batting performance by RR
Talking about the match, RR won the toss and opted to bowl first. PBKS had a poor start as they lost Prabhsimran Singh on the second ball of the match. Atharva Taide and Shikhar Dhawan also found themselves back in the dugout with the scoreboard reading 48/3 at the end of the powerplay. Livingstone joined them soon after leaving Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma to do the heavy lifting. The duo added 64 runs for the fifth wicket, with the Indian scoring 44, before Navdeep Saini broke the partnership with his third scalp. The RR bowlers restricted PBKS batters, Shahrukh Khan and Curran. However, both of them switched gears in the last couple of overs amassing 46 runs to post a competitive total of 187/5.
Chasing the target, RR suffered a severe blow in the first over as Jos Buttler was dismissed on a duck. Devdutt Padikkal and Yashasvi Jaiswal joined forces after the dismissal blasting 73 runs from 49 balls with the former playing a knock of 51 runs. While RR managed to get off to a good start in the first half, they needed to score with a required run rate of 10.1 in the second half of the innings. And in the end, Dhruv Jurel finished the match with a maximum and helped the team register a four-wicket win and keep their chances of making the playoffs alive.
Here's how fans reacted: