Rajasthan Royals stayed alive in the playoffs race with a convincing seven-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 encounter on Friday. Rajasthan’s stunning victory also snapped Punjab’s five-match winning streak.
Chasing 186 to win, Rajasthan began well with Ben Stokes slamming a 24-ball 50. But his dismissal inside the Powerplay off Chris Jordan’s bowling brought Punjab back. However, Sanju Samson and Robin Uthappa allayed any concerns with a quickfire 51-run second-wicket partnership. Uthappa fell for a 23-ball 30 but that did not deter Samson, whose 25-ball 48 coupled with Steve Smith’s unbeaten 20-ball 31 saw Rajasthan home with 15 balls to spare.
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However, Punjab can still end up qualifying for the last four stage. However, it needs to beat Chennai Super Kings, get to 14 points and hope that Sunrisers Hyderabad, which has a much better Net Run Rate, does not win its remaining two games. As for Rajasthan, Steve Smith and Co. need to win their last game against the Kolkata Knight Riders and pray that Chennai continues its good form to trump Punjab.
IPL 2020 Points Table Today
| TEAMS | P | W | L | Points | NRR |
| Mumbai Indians | 12 | 8 | 4 | 16 | +1.186 |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | 12 | 7 | 5 | 14 | +0.048 |
| Delhi Capitals | 12 | 7 | 5 | 14 | +0.030 |
| Kings XI Punjab | 13 | 6 | 7 | 12 | -0.133 |
| Rajasthan Royals | 13 | 6 | 7 | 12 | -0.377 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 13 | 6 | 7 | 12 | -0.467 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 12 | 5 | 7 | 10 | +0.396 |
| Chennai Super Kings | 13 | 5 | 8 | 10 | -0.532 |
