Punjab Kings registered a 5-run win over Rajasthan Royals in a high-scoring match number 8 in IPL 2023 at the Barsapara Cricket Ground in Guwahati on Wednesday (April 5) and picked up their second victory in the tournament.
After being put in to bat first on a batting-friendly track, Shikhar Dhawan led his team by example and smashed an unbeaten 86 off 56 balls along with a maiden IPL fifty from young Prabhsimran Singh (60 off 34).

Riding upon a solid start from their openers and a vital cameo from wicketkeeper-batter, Jitesh Sharma, Punjab Kings posted 197 for the loss of four wickets against a quality Rajasthan Royals bowling line-up.
While chasing a target of 198, the Royals didn't get off to a fine start as they lost opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and their batting mainstay Jos Buttler - who came in to bat at number three yesterday - were dismissed cheaply.
Captain Sanju Samson was the top-scorer for the Royals in the run chase and scored a quickfire 42 off 25 balls before getting dismissed and leaving his team in the lurch. However, Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel's heroics in the death overs heightened the pressure on the bowling side but they managed to stave off the trouble in the end.
Nathan Ellis was the key bowler for Punjab Kings as the Australia seamer returned with his best figures of 4/30 in the tournament. Arshdeep Singh - the ever-reliable left-arm Indian seamer - also picked up a couple of wickets to leave his mark.
Match 8: Punjab Kings (PBKS) - 197/4 in 20 overs Vs Rajasthan Royals (RR) - 192/7 (20 overs). Result - Punjab Kings won by 5 runs at Barsapara Cricket Ground, Guwahati.
Name: Nathan Ellis (PBKS)
Wickets: 4/30 in four overs
Match 8: RR vs PBKS
Name: Shikhar Dhawan (PBKS)
Runs: 86* off 56 balls (9x fours and 3x sixes)
Name: Shimron Hetmyer, Shikhar Dhawan, Prabhsimran Singh
Number of Sixes: 3
Name: Nathan Ellis (PBKS) for picking up four wickets and conceding 30 runs from his quota of 4 overs.
PBKS: Prabhsimran Singh, Shikhar Dhawan (c), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran, Shahrukh Khan, Nathan Ellis, Harpreet Brar, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh,
RR: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c) (wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jason Holder, Trent Boult, KM Asif, Yuzvendra Chahal.
PBKS: Rishi Dhawan (DNB)
RR: Dhruv Jurel - 32* off 15 balls