Rajasthan Royals slumped to their fourth successive defeat as Punjab Kings beat them by five wickets in an IPL match on Wednesday. However, Royals with 16 points are safe in terms qualifying for the play-offs but with one match left, they might not finish in top two with an inferior net run-rate as Sunrisers can go up to 18 points. On the day, Punjab Kings restricted Rajasthan Royals to a meagre 144 for nine. For Royals, local hero Riyan Parag scored 48 off 34 balls on a difficult track while Punjab skipper Sam Curran (2/24 in 3 overs), Harshal Patel (2/28 in 4 overs), Nathan Ellis (1/24 in 4 overs) and Rahul Chahar (2/26 in 4 overs) were all on target. In reply, skipper Curran hit an unbeaten 63 off 41 balls to ensure an inconsequential victory with seven balls to spare.

Punjab Kings Squad: Jonny Bairstow(w), Prabhsimran Singh, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Sam Curran(c), Ashutosh Sharma, Harshal Patel, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Harpreet Brar, Nathan Ellis, Chris Woakes, Rishi Dhawan, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Tanay Thyagarajan, Shikhar Dhawan, Atharva Taide, Shivam Singh, Prince Choudhary, Vishwanath Singh

Rajasthan Royals Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rovman Powell, Nandre Burger, Keshav Maharaj, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Sen, Donovan Ferreira, Abid Mushtaq, Shubham Dubey, Kunal Singh Rathore, Navdeep Saini

South Africa pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada has returned home from the Indian Premier League due to a lower limb soft tissue infection, the country's cricket board said on Wednesday. "The 28-year-old consulted a specialist on arrival in South Africa and is being closely monitored by the Cricket South Africa medical team," said Cricket South Africa (CSA) in a statement. (PTI)

13th venue of the season, the most in an IPL season. This has traditionally been a very high scoring venue, with 63m and 60m side boundaries, with the straight boundary at 73m. We are playing on a black soil pitch which is firm and rolled nicely. Surely a surface on which a lot of runs can be scored. The pitch has a few cracks but it generally plays much better than the looks. Last year, both games here were won by the side batting first. Teams prefer doing that because when you are chasing, you are under pressure, but in an India Australia game at this venue, Australia chased a huge score of 222 in the last over. Irrespective on when you bat, there are a lot of runs to be had here - WV Raman and Deep Dasgupta

Rajasthan Royals have won the toss and elected to bat first against Punjab Kings.

Sanju Samson: We'll bat first in these conditions. This is a second home for us, we have spend quite a bit of time here. We spent two days to assess on whether there is dew, and there isn't any. The team, the batting and bowling unit are doing great. Everyone is chill and we are excited to come out and play a great game of cricket. I'd be lying if I say no, the camp looks a lot more relaxed (on qualifying for playoffs). We'll miss Jos and Kohler-Cadmore comes in, and we might have Ferreira as an impact sub later.

Sam Curran: Tonight we play a really good team, and we can spoil a few campaigns now and finish with some pride. We've had a really good squad but some of those games we didn't win the big moments. We are about 2-3 wins away from qualifying. Tonight, we play a good side and I believe in character, I certainly don't want to lose tonight and hopefully I can rub that off on the players. We've lost a few players, KG is out and Nathan Ellis gets a game. Brar also comes back into the line-up.

Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Prabhsimran Singh, Jonny Bairstow, Rilee Rossouw, Shashank Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Sam Curran(c), Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Sandeep Sharma, Avesh Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal

Punjab Kings Impact Subs: Tanay Thyagarajan, Rishi Dhawan, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Ashutosh Sharma, Harpreet Singh Bhatia

Rajasthan Royals Impact Subs: Nandre Burger, Tanush Kotian, Keshav Maharaj, Kuldeep Sen, Donovan Ferreira

Sam Curran, PBKS captain, removed Yashasvi Jaiswal for 4 runs to strike early for the hosts and damage RR early on in the game.

After an early wicket, RR batters Sanju Samson and Tom Kohler-Cadmore have struck a partnership as they look to take the Royals to a decent score inside the 10 overs.

What a fightback from the PBKS bowlers to keep RR batters quiet! With no Jos Buttler at the helm, Royals have collapsed dramatically as Sam Curran-led side look to force their way into the game and keep the Royals run rate under check in Guwahati.

Riyan Parag remains the only hope for Rajasthan Royals after a disastrous start. They are six down and with five overs left, another perfect bowling from PBKS, could see the already qualified side bowled out for a cheap score.

A fighting 48 from local boy Riyan Parag helped Rajasthan Royals post 144/9 in their 20 overs. Opting to bat first, RR lost wickets in a heap and were all over the place. PBKS bowlers bowled some neat and tidy lines as apart from Parag, none of the RR batters could take on the Punjab Kings bowlers. Some lower-order resistance saw RR reach 144 in 20 overs.

What a start from Rajasthan Royals. Three wickets inside five overs as left PBKS reeling in their runchase of 145. All hopes are pinned on Jonny Bairstow and Sam Curran to bail them out as RR look to get more wickets.

Punjab Kings need 82 runs in 60 balls with six wickets pending. After an early burst from RR bowlers, PBKS found themselves on the backfoot and have left themselves too much to do in the final 10 overs.

Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma have stitched an important partnership as PBKS fought back against Rajasthan Royals. Punjab Kings need 42 runs in 30 balls.

An unbeaten 63 from skipper Sam Curran was enough to take Punjab Kings home and claim an important victory over Rajasthan Royals in match 65 of the IPL 2024. Needed 145 for victory, PBKS started off poorly as they lost wickets at regular intervals. However, Curran alongside Jitesh Sharma and then Ashutosh Sharma, led their revival as they claimed a morale-boosting victory in Guwahati.

We needed a few more runs. I think we were 10-15 runs short. It was a 160 kind of a wicket. We would have easily got more than 160 (had we played better), that's where we lost the game. Would have been nice to have one more bowling option. I am getting used to five quality bowlers. We have to sit back and accept that we are going through failures, have lost four games on the trot. Got to find out what's not working out for us as a team. Somebody needs to step up, we have so many match-winners in the team. This is the time we need to show character. We need to score more runs. We thought 160-170 would have been a good score. We are not used to playing on such wickets this season where 200-plus totals are getting scored easily. We had to play smart cricket and build those partnerships today. Hopefully the result goes in our way (in the upcoming games.)

We bowled really well as a group. Message was that we had a lot of pride to play for. Ellis was absolutely amazing in his first game of the season. Probably should've played him earlier. When I went in, Jonny said it was quite tough. It was holding a little bit. Didn't need to take too much risk. Knew on a ground like this, we just needed a couple of sixes. Me and Jonny are leaving tomorrow. Obviously nice. Have thoroughly enjoyed the season, have enjoyed captaining. Atmosphere around the group has been really good. Excited about the World Cup. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We had so many close games. Feel like the team is close to something. Who knows what the future holds. Loads of positives. The chase in Kolkata. The way Shashank Singh has come into the team is amazing. Ashutosh as well. Harshal and Arshdeep have bowled well.

RR are still on a losing spree and have yet stamp down on the 2nd position on the IPL 2024 points table. It's goodnight from all of us here.