Sam Curran, Jonny Bairstow to leave for England on May 16

Sam Curran and Jonny Bairstow will join the other English players for the upcoming T20I series against Pakistan and will leave on May 16 for England. Speaking after his side's victory, Curran informed, "Me and Jonny are leaving tomorrow. I've thoroughly enjoyed the season, thoroughly enjoyed captaining. Quite frustrating to leave, but obviously excited about the World Cup."

Meanwhile, his side, Punjab Kings (PBKS), may be out of the playoff race, but they still had the spirit to keep fighting. That was visible in ample measure when they took the field against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Guwahati and defeated them by 5-wickets. 

Batting first, Rajasthan struggled on the two-paced surface and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Riyan Parag (48 off 34) and R. Ashwin (28 off 19) stabilised the innings for a bit, but some superb bowling from Rahul Chahar (2/26), Harshal Patel (2/28), and skipper Sam Curran (2/24) kept pulling the game back towards Punjab. 

In the end, RR could score only 144/9. 

“I thought we bowled really well as a group. We had a lot of pride to play for,” Curran said in the post-match presentation. 

“The way the guys came together... Nathan Ellis, the way he played his first game was excellent. Great character from the team.”

Meanwhile, RR’s skipper, Sanju Samson, blamed his batters for not scoring enough runs. 

“We were expecting the wicket to be a touch better. I think it's not a 140-kind of a wicket, we should have got around 160. I think that's where we lost the game,” Samson said. 

While chasing, skipper Curran played a fantastic knock of 63 in 41 deliveries and took his team home, along with impact player Ashutosh Sharma, who scored 17 runs in 11 balls. However, it wasn’t a straightforward run chase as Avesh Khan (2/28) and Yuzvendea Chahal (2/31) kept chipping in with wickets on the slow deck. 

“When I went in, Jonny [Bairstow] said it was holding a tough. We were trying to build a partnership. Jitesh came in and got in nicely. We didn't need too many risks, just a couple of sixes,” Curran said. Before departing, he looked at PBKS’s season with a quite positive lens. 

“Hindsight's a wonderful thing. If we win our next game, we finish with 12 points. So I feel this team was close to something, but it wasn't meant to be. Over the next few seasons, if we can keep some of the really good players, we can go better,” Curran said. 

PBKS will play their last game of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad on May 19.