| Indian Premier League, Dharamsala |
| Punjab Kings 187-5 (20 overs): Curran 49* (31), Jitesh 44 (28); Saini 3-40 |
| Rajasthan Royals 189-6 (19.4 overs): Padikkal 51 (30), Jaiswal 50 (36); Rabada 2-40 |
| Rajasthan Royals won by four wickets |
| Scorecard; Table |
Rajasthan Royals kept alive their Indian Premier League play-off hopes with a tense four-wicket win that eliminated Punjab Kings.
Chasing 188, Rajasthan won with two balls to spare thanks to fifties from Devdutt Padikkal and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
The result moves them to fifth in the table and needing defeats for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians over the weekend to qualify.
Punjab made 187-5 with England’s Sam Curran finishing 49 not out.
He helped them recover from 50-4 after 6.3 overs with a patient innings before he and Shahrukh Khan took 46 off the final two overs.
Rajasthan knew if they won in 18.3 overs, they would climb over fourth-placed Royals Challengers Bangalore but they were unable to do that.
England white-ball captain Jos Buttler was out for a three-ball duck but Jaiswal and Padikkal gave their side a platform to win the game from.
Shimron Hetmyer attacked and almost got Rajasthan the win within the overs they needed but fell for 46 off 28 balls.
Needing nine from the final over, impact player Dhruv Chand Jurel hit the fourth ball for six to seal the win and keep alive their hopes.
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson said: “The run-rate was a factor. We thought we had a chance to win in 18.5 overs when Hetmyer was going but we weren’t able to do that.
“With the quality of players and characters we have, it is a bit shocking to see where we stand in the table. There are a lot of things to discuss and learn from.”
Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan said: “In all areas we could have done better this year. Sometimes it was the batting and sometimes it was the bowling. We couldn’t put things together often enough. We are a young side and that is why there were ups and downs.”
Curran, who went into the tournament as the most expensive player in history, finishes with 10 wickets and 276 runs in 14 games, while England team-mate Liam Livingstone scored 279 runs and took two wickets in nine matches.
Who needs what to qualify for the IPL play-offs?
Fixtures: Delhi Capitals v Chennai Super Kings (Saturday 20 May, 11:00 BST), Kolkata Knight Riders v Lucknow Super Giants (Saturday 20 May, 15:00 BST), Mumbai Indians v Sunrisers Hyderabad (Sunday 21 May, 11:00 BST), Royal Challengers Bangalore v Gujarat Titans (Sunday 21 May, 15:00 BST).
Defending champions Gujarat Titans are guaranteed to top the table and will have two chances to qualify for the final.
Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants know that wins in their final games on Saturday will definitely confirm their place in the play-offs, with net run-rate deciding who takes the important second position. Even if they lose, they could still qualify depending on other results.
Royal Challengers Bangalore are in pole position for the final spot, with a victory likely to confirm their place. If they get it, then Mumbai Indians would have to win by a large margin to overtake them on net run-rate.
Rajasthan and Kolkata Knight Riders both need Bangalore and Mumbai to lose to have any chance of progressing.
Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad are eliminated.
What is the IPL play-off schedule?
There are four games in the IPL play-offs, with the first on Tuesday, 23 May.
That will see Gujarat, as the group-stage winners, facing the second-placed team in Qualifier 1. The winner of that game will go into the final on Sunday, 28 May.
Wednesday sees the third and fourth-placed teams play in the Eliminator, with the loser out.
The winner of that game faces the loser of Tuesday’s game on Friday, 26 May in Qualifier 2 for the second place in the final.