Want to keep the momentum going: Dhawan after Rajasthan win

From the first ball of the match, it was clear that a high-scoring affair was on the cards, with how the conditions played out. Rajasthan bowlers did ever so well to restrict the Punjab Kings to just 197, after Punjab’s rollicking start in the powerplay. 

Prabhsimran Singh, who has been entrusted with the responsibility of opening the innings, scored a blistering 34-ball 60, including seven boundaries and three sixes. Punjab skipper Shikhar Dhawan opined that he tried his best to increase his strike-rate, having found himself in a tricky position at 30 off 30 balls. 

“These 2 games we got a great start, Prabh did really well and I tried my best to increase my strike-rate. We want to keep the momentum going as we got a good batting line-up. We respect the opponents' bowlers but want to keep the intent and aggression going,” Dhawan said. 

“There were some nervous moments, I was trying to keep my calm and discussing plans with my bowlers. Was happy with the score we put up. We scoring 197 and my bowlers giving those early wickets and then Nathan came in and bowled superbly. It was a full team effort,” he had to add.

Losing skipper Sanju Samson though credited his bowlers for restricting the batting-heavy Punjab to just 197. Not just that, Samson reckoned that the Punjab batters had maximised the powerplay, and took the game away from them. 

“To be honest, it was a very good track to bat on, not much movement with the new ball and they batted really well, had momentum in the powerplay. Our bowlers used the variations on a high-scoring wicket and I thought we did well to restrict them to 197,” said Samson.

Rajasthan had to make a decision when Jos Buttler was away from the field with a finger injury when they sent Ravichandran Ashwin out to open the innings. Prior to that innings, Ashwin had opened just one time, against Kolkata Knight Riders for Chennai Super Kings back in 2013. The move didn’t pay dividends but Samson explained the reason behind the move. 

“Jos wasn't fully fit (injured his finger while taking the catch), the thinking behind keeping Padikkal (in the middle order) was to tackle their two spinners in the middle overs,” Samson added.

For Punjab, it was Nathan Ellis who stood out with the ball, leapfrogging the regular Kagiso Rabada. Ellis’ variations, including his ability to churn out a good cross-seam, was mighty effective on the night. 

"Just stoked to get the win, pleased to get some awards but from a team's point of view nice to get that win. In T20 every ball counts, staying in the moment is really the key. When I was bowling in the backend, I was trying to get my variations right and calculate what the best ball is at that time. For me it's cross-seam and it worked out really well tonight," said Ellis.