Royal batting show ends PBKS's unbeaten run

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Punjab Kings' unbeaten dominance in IPL 2026 was brought to a screeching halt by Rajasthan Royals, whose batting at both ends of the innings powered them in their big chase in Mullanpur. Prabhsimran Singh scored another fifty and Marcus Stoinis bossed the death overs to take the hosts to 222/4, but Punjab's bowling came up short in the end.

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@B2$Punjab Kings 222/4 in 20 overs [Marcus Stoinis 62* (22), Cooper Connolly 30 (14), Prabhsimran Singh 59 (44); Yash Raj Punja 2-41] lost to Rajasthan Royals 228/4 in 19.2 overs [Donovan Ferreira 52* (26), Yashasvi Jaiswal 51 (27), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 43 (16); Yuzvendra Chahal 3-36] by 6 wickets

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Their top-three - led by Vaibhav Sooryavanshi - in the Powerplay, and the pair of Donovan Ferreira and impact substitute Shubham Dubey at the death.

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Lived up to the hype. Sooryavanshi, more than most.

Jofra Archer cranked up the pace and got some early swing to trouble Priyansh Arya. Even Prabhsimran Singh, fresh from a mind-boggling 76 off 26, wasn't able to put the Englishman away. Nandre Burger also bowled fast, but his lengths were easy to pick on. Arya could hit through the line and Prabhsimran kept moving his front foot out of the way and taking the South African on. Burger bowled half the Powerplay overs and conceded 45 off the 65 Royals conceded in the phase.

No such starting troubles for Sooryavanshi though. Arshdeep Singh bowled two good away swinging full deliveries for him to defend, but the moment Arshdeep switched to inswing, the ferocious bat speed swung into action and he flicked his first six of the game. He then hit two fours in the same over on either side of the wicket, as if to say there are no real gameplans to deter the 15-year-old.

Lockie Ferguson came up to try his luck next, and saw the ball fly. The New Zealander went full, and Sooryavanshi played a wristy flick for a six; Ferguson changed pace with a knuckleball, same result. Marco Jansen also tried to deceive with a slower one, only for Sooryavanshi to hit it over deep midwicket. The trick, as it turned out, was in Arshdeep going round the stumps and angling it away from the left-hander. Sooryavanshi got one such low full-toss and targetted the straight boundary. But hit it to Shreyas Iyer, and walked off dejected for a 16-ball 43.

RR didn't let the wicket dampen their Powerplay spirits. Both Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel kept the fours and sixes coming. Despite a fabulous first over from Harpreet Brar, which included two singles and four dots, RR came away with 84/1 in six overs, which proved pivotal in the end.

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The Punjab spinners tidied up the mess of the start. Brar continued to be hard to put away, conceding just one four in his next two overs. Yuzvendra Chahal too began well, with a five-run over. He too broke through with a full-toss - Dhruv Jurel aimed to tonk the hit-me ball over long on but found the boundary rider there instead. Jaiswal got to his half-century, but he became Chahal's next victim, falling to a tossed up delivery and finding the long off fielder.

Riyan Parag showed signs of finally stepping up to be RR's protagonist, hitting reverse sweep sixes and targeting the deep mid wicket fence. But on the last ball of Chahal's spell, he hit the ball straight to deep mid-wicket and walked off for a 16-ball 29 - his best score of the season.

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Arshdeep bowled two very ordinary overs by his standards on either side of the death, as Ferreira and Dubey grew into the chase. A 14-run 15th over left RR with 58 to get off the last 30 balls. Marco Jansen then got tonked by the impact substitute for a six and four in another heavy 15-run over. Ferguson gave away eight to push back a touch but Ferreira and Dubey laid into Arshdeep to take 17 against him in the next.

Ferreira then flexed his muscles further against Ferguson in the 19th over, hitting a six into the top-tier and belting two fours to put RR just two away from a win. He put the finishing touches with a six in the last over that also took him to a sensational 26-ball 52. Dubey, who stood tall at the other end during a 77-run stand, walked away with an impressive 31* off 12.

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Through an Aussie carry job.

Though Prabhsimran got to a half-century, PBKS made progress through Cooper Connolly who took on both RR spinners Yash Raj Punja and Ravindra Jadeja. Connolly's cameo lasted only until the ninth over, but he exited with 30 off just 14. Uncharacteristically, Shreyas Iyer looked scratchy throughout his 27-ball stay for just 30 runs, and had his team bailed out and pushed towards a big total by Stoinis's brute force. RR faced the brunt of that in the final three overs, where they conceded as many as 55 runs.

Stoinis spared no one - Nandre Burger came back to cop a few more blows to finish with 1/59 in four overs. Archer got hit for a couple of sixes too, and then Stoinis sullied Brijesh Sharma's bowling figures. The young pacer, who gave away only 18 in the first three overs, finished with figures of 0-42. At that point it looked like PBKS had revived just on time to give their bowlers enough. But that wasn't to be on the night.

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RR head back home to Jaipur where they meet Delhi Capitals on May 1. PBKS take on GT in Ahmedabad on May 3.