Punjab troll RR after denying Samson last-ball victory, Archer sends out a fierce warning

As KL Rahul & Co. stole a victory from the jaws of defeat last night, Punjab Kings took a dig at Rajasthan Royals' speed gun Jofra Archer over his tweets. Sharing the scorecard of the nail-biting match on Monday, the Kings quipped that even Archer did not 'predict' this. The franchise was referring to the tweets by the English speedster which often finds a link to a prevalent situation, event or an occurrence in the game of cricket or general. 

In response to the tweet by Kings, Jofra Archer sent out a warning to the franchise. The English speed gun, who led Archer's pace attack last year, remarked, "He who laughs last laughs best," envisaging that the Royals' will come back stronger. Archer has been out of action and is set to miss the initial fixtures due to an injury and the consequent surgery that he underwent. 

Punjab Kings snatch victory

Punjab Kings held their nerves to snatch victory from jaws of defeat against RR by four runs in a high-scoring thriller. After being put in to bat, skipper KL Rahul played a sublime knock of a 50-ball 91. He was involved in a 105-run stand with Deepak Hooda (64) for the third wicket. Even though KL Rahul fell nine runs short of a deserving century, the 2014 finalists ended up posting 221/6 from their allotted 20 overs. 

Chasing a mammoth target of 222, the Kerala cricketer who had come out to bat in the very first over after having lost the key wicket of opener Ben Stokes took some time to settle down but then went after the Punjab Kings' bowlers once he got set. He brought up the first century of this season and at one point, it appeared as if he would single-handedly take the Royals past the finish line. 

However, with 13 needed from the remaining six deliveries, youngster Arshdeep Singh bowled an outstanding final over and in the end, despite being taken to the cleaners it was the bowler who had the last laugh as he had an in-form Sanju Samson caught at the boundary by Deepak Hooda on the final ball of the contest. Sanju Samson was dismissed for a quickfire 63-ball 119 at a strike rate of 188.89 including 12 boundaries and seven maximums as the 2008 winners fell short by five runs after being restricted to 217/7 from their 20 overs. 

Archer cleared to resume light training

Rajasthan Royals (RR) star bowler Jofra Archer has given the clearance to bowl again in the nets after successful surgery to remove a fragment of glass from his finger. According to a press release issued by the England Cricket Board (ECB), Archer has been given clearance by his hand consultant to resume training. The right-arm pacer will return for light training with his county team Sussex from this week. The release further added that Archer will be allowed to level up the intensity of his training from next week following assessment of his hand by medical teams.