Rajasthan’s amazing record of 223 runs chased Punjab’s first defeat, Ferreira and Dubey became heroes.

New Delhi . Among the exciting matches of IPL 2026, the match between Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals played in New Chandigarh forced the cricket fans to hold their breath. In this high scoring match, Rajasthan achieved a huge target of 223 runs and made Punjab face its first defeat and registered a memorable victory.

Batting first, Punjab Kings scored a strong score of 222 runs at the loss of 4 wickets. The team got a fast start from Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya, both of them scored runs in an aggressive manner but could not convert them into big innings. After this, Cooper Connolly also added runs quickly but the real blast was done by Marcus Stoinis in the end.

Stoinis played an explosive inning of unbeaten 62 runs in just 22 balls, which included 6 sixes and 4 fours. He thrashed the bowlers in the last overs and took the team to 222 runs. Rajasthan bowlers tried to control the middle overs but failed to stop the runs in the death overs.

Rajasthan Royals started chasing the target of 223 runs. The start was very good. Young batsman Vaibhav Suryavanshi started batting as soon as he came. He set the tone of the match by scoring 43 runs in just 16 balls. Five sixes came off his bat and Punjab bowlers came under pressure, however, he could not last long and was out.

After this, Yashasvi Jaiswal took charge of the innings and scored 51 runs in 27 balls. He hit brilliant shots and gave strength to the team. Dhruv Jurel and captain Ryan Parag also contributed but Punjab’s spinner Yuzvendra Chahal raised hopes of returning to the match by taking consecutive wickets.

The match reached an exciting turn when Rajasthan needed 71 runs in the last six overs, but from here Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey completely changed the course of the match. Both the batsmen batted fearlessly and put pressure on the bowlers.

Ferreira scored unbeaten 52 runs in 26 balls while Dubey played a quick inning of 31 runs in just 12 balls. Together they hit fours and sixes and made the Punjab bowlers completely helpless. Ultimately, Rajasthan achieved the target with four balls remaining and won the match by six wickets.

This victory is not just the victory of one match but is a big sign of confidence for Rajasthan and this defeat for Punjab raises many questions, especially regarding bowling. This match has once again proved that anything is possible till the last over in T20 cricket and this is the biggest beauty of this game.