| Indian Premier League, Guwahati |
| Punjab Kings 197-4 (20 overs): Dhawan 86* (56), Prabhsimran 60 (34); Holder 2-29 |
| Rajasthan Royals 192-7 (20 overs): Samson 42 (25), Hetmyer 36 (18); Ellis 4-30 |
| Punjab Kings won by five runs |
| Scorecard; Table |
England all-rounder Sam Curran defended 16 off the final over as Punjab Kings beat Rajasthan Royals by five runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Rajasthan looked beat at 129-6, needing 69 from 24 balls, but Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel hit 53 off three overs, including 19 off Curran in the 18th.
Curran, whose £1.85m deal is the most expensive in IPL history, held his nerve though, conceding just 10.
Punjab made 197-4 with opener Shikhar Dhawan making 86 not out off 56 balls.
The victory means they have won their opening two games for just the third time.
Ellis stars as Punjab edge home
Punjab seemed in control of the game after seamer Nathan Ellis took four wickets in his opening three overs.
He picked up Jos Buttler in the powerplay, with the England white-ball captain appearing to struggle after requiring stitches in a finger injury sustained while taking a catch in the field.
That left Rajasthan 57-3 and they accumulated before Ellis, who has played five T20s for Australia, returned to remove Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag and Devdutt Padikkal.
However Hetmyer and Jurel, who was subbed on by Rajasthan under the new Impact Player rule, dragged Rajasthan back into the game with some explosive hitting.
Hetymer was dropped off the final ball of the 19th over but was unable to make the most of the second chance.
He struggled to get away Curran’s excellent yorkers and was run out at the non-striker’s end off the third ball of the final over.
Curran went for four off the final ball, but at that point had already done enough to secure the victory.
“You just know it is do or die,” said Curran. “Those are the moments you practice for.
“The ball was like a soap, but we couldn’t get it changed and we had to get on with it.
“It is amazingly hard to bowl with the ball like that. You try in training to dip it into water but it is extremely tough.”