In the 66th match of Indian Premier League 2023, Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings by 4 wickets. Punjab Kings ended their tournament journey with a defeat in this match, while Rajasthan Royals registered a win and finished 5th on the points table with 14 points. They kept their playoff hopes alive.
On the other hand, the Punjab team was eliminated in the league round for the ninth consecutive season. They last reached in the playoffs in 2014, and they were runner-up at that time. In 16 seasons of the IPL, Punjab managed to advance beyond the league round only twice in 2009 and 2014.
But a moment happened in that match which was really disappointing for the cricket experts and also the fans. This incident happened when Punjab Kings all-rounder Liam Livingstone threw away his wicket after scoring 9 runs, and while returning to the dugout, he was smiling. Punjab Kings fans got angry seeing the manner of this English cricketer. During this, the commentators also gave their reaction to his dismissal. Due to this, there has been a ruckus on social media.
On Liam Livingstone’s dismissal, Team India’s former cricketer and renowned commentator Aakash Chopra criticized Livingstone bluntly while reviewing the match on his YouTube Channel.
“The shot Liam Livingstone played and then walked away laughing and didn’t come out to the field; if an Indian batter had done that, we would have talked about his attitude. It slightly defines how your season has been,” said Aakash.
Further, Aakash Chopra stated that the start of PBKS was really good; the middle-order batters performed as expected so they couldn’t set the big total on the board.
“Shikhar Dhawan’s start was very good but after that he has gone down. Jitesh Sharma did well. Shahrukh Khan also did well. He scored runs when you gave him the chance to face more deliveries this time. He wasn’t scoring when you weren’t doing that. Once again a question is there.” Chopra further stated.
Talking about the match, Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson won the toss and decided to bowl. Punjab scored 187 runs for five wickets in 20 overs. In reply, Rajasthan scored 189 runs for six wickets in 19.4 overs. Devdutt Padikkal scored the highest 51 runs for Rajasthan. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 50, and Shimron Hetmyer scored 46 runs. Ryan Parag scored 20 off 12 balls, and Dhruv Jurel scored 10 runs.
