Punjab Kings beat Rajasthan Royals in a nail-biting finish at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium to start their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign with a victory. Sanju Samson scored a superb century for Rajasthan, but it wasn’t enough to bring his team home as the 2008 champions fell four runs shy of the 222-run mark. With their victory on Monday, Punjab Kings have entered Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Royal Challengers Bangalore as the top four teams in the league.
IPL Points Table
Punjab Kings are tied for fourth place with Delhi Capitals, KKR, and RCB on four points, but DC leads the table thanks to a better net run rate. Above the Virat Kohli-led RCB, KKR is in second position and Punjab is in seventh.
Last year’s champions Mumbai Indians, three-time IPL champions Chennai Super Kings, SunRisers Hyderabad, and Rajasthan Royals make up the bottom half of the league.
Race For Orange Cap
Sanju Samson has taken over the Orange Cap from KL Rahul, who scored his third IPL century on Monday. In the same contest, Rahul surpassed Shikhar Dhawan’s 85 to become the IPL 2021’s top run-scorer.
Dhawan has climbed to third position on the list of the tournament’s highest run scorers. In the race for the Orange Cap, Nitish Rana and Prithvi Shaw are the next two contenders.
Race for Purple Cap
Harshal Patel’s Purple Cap is still on his head after the first four rounds. On April 9, the RCB seamer took five wickets against Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener in Chennai.
Chetan Sakariya is in second place with three wickets after making his IPL debut against Punjab Kings.
Arshdeep Singh of the Punjab Kings has three wickets as well, but he is behind Sakariya in terms of economy pace.