Punjab Kings held their nerves in a nail-biting finish against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai to begin their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign with a win. Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson hit a brilliant century but it wasn’t enough to take his side home as the 2008 champions fell four runs short of the 222-run target. All teams have now played a match each and with the win on Monday, Punjab Kings have joined Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore as the top four sides.

IPL Points Table

Punjab Kings are tied with Delhi Capitals, KKR and RCB at four points but thanks to a superior net run-rate, DC are on top of the table. KKR are second and Punjab are placed at third spot above the Virat Kohli-led RCB. 

The bottom half of the table has last year’s champions Mumbai Indians, three-time IPL winners Chennai Super Kings along with SunRisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals.

Race For Orange Cap

Sanju Samson, who scored his third IPL century on Monday, took over the Orange Cap from KL Rahul. Rahul, in the same match, had bettered Shikhar Dhawan’s 85 to become the leading run-scorer in the IPL 2021. 

Dhawan is now at third spot in the list of top run-scorers in the ongoing tournament. Nitish Rana and Prithvi Shaw occupy the next two spots in the race for Orange Cap.

Race for Purple Cap

After the first four games, Harshal Patel still has the Purple Cap on his head. The RCB seamer had picked up five-wicket haul against Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener in Chennai on April 9.

Promoted

Chetan Sakariya, who made his IPL debut against Punjab Kings, is at second place with three wickets next to his name. 

Punjab Kings bowler Arshdeep Singh also has three wickets but is behind Sakariya on the basis of economy rate.