Synopsis: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s blazing start and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s composed 51 laid the platform; Donovan Ferreira’s unbeaten 52 finished the job as Rajasthan Royals chased down 223 to hand Punjab Kings their first defeat of the season. Several franchises had spent the transfer window trying to prise Donovan Ferreira away from Delhi Capitals. The South African’s ability to hit the ball the distance — against pace and spin, equally — was the kind of asset that wins matches in the second half of an IPL season. Rajasthan Royals got him for Nitish Rana. On a Tuesday night in Mullanpur, with Punjab Kings unbeaten and a target of 223 on the board, they found out what they had bought.The start and the finishArshdeep Singh’s first over told the story. Sixteen runs off it, Sooryavanshi through and over the field, and the chase was already underway before it had been formally announced. Forty-four in three overs. A 15-year-old playing like the target was 150. When he went, the Punjab dugout and the stands responded in a way that said something beyond the scoreboard — not relief at a wicket, but something closer to respect.AS IT HAPPENED | PUNJAB KINGS VS RAJASTHAN ROYALS IPL 2026 HIGHLIGHTSJaiswal picked it up where Sooryavanshi left it. Fifty-one off 27 balls — not agricultural, not frantic, but timed and placed with the sort of ease that makes 223 seem like a reasonable Sunday afternoon.The powerplay told its own story. Eighty-four runs in six overs — the highest of the night, on the same surface Punjab had batted on. The pitch hadn’t changed. The intent had. By the time the field spread, Rajasthan were already ahead of the asking rate by enough that even a collapse would have needed to be a serious one to matter.Then Chahal made it interesting.Bowling slow against his old team, letting the ball grip, Chahal found the right line and the right lengths in the middle overs. Between the 10th and 14th, three wickets — Jurel off a full toss, Jaiswal and Parag in turn. Punjab sniffed it. Rajasthan, at 151 for four, needed someone to take ownership and not wait for the innings to come to him.Story continues below this adALSO READ | Punjab Kings captain Shreyas Iyer after first defeat of IPL 2026: Was just not our dayFerreira didn’t wait. His 52 off 26 came with the calm of a man executing a plan already formed. The boundaries didn’t arrive in bursts — they arrived in sequence, measured against the field, paced against the requirement. Shubham Dubey at the other end, 31 off 12, ensured there was no slow over to breathe into. Punjab had no answer. They head to Dharamsala with their first loss.Stoinis joins the partyPunjab’s evening had its own complication before the chase began. Archer was sharp from the first ball — 150.1 kilometres an hour, steep and angled, and Priyansh Arya found him difficult to handle. Five deliveries, three chances, one wicket. Arya had 29 off 11 when he went, but those five deliveries before would have lingered.Prabhsimran and Connolly got the run rate to ten, but neither found the freedom that has defined Punjab’s batting this season. There were eighteen successive deliveries without a boundary from the bat through the middle overs — an unusual quiet for a side that usually bats opponents into submission. Prabhsimran’s 59 off 44 had its moments — when he decided to hit, he cleared the front leg and gave it everything, the ball reaching boundaries in directions he hadn’t quite intended but getting there regardless — but the innings had more caution than customary. Connolly’s 30 off 14 was similarly streaky: sixes arriving in a rush, dots accumulating between. Shreyas Iyer, too, couldn’t inject momentum in the middle overs when Punjab needed someone to open the game up.Story continues below this adStoinis resolved it. The depth Punjab possess has meant he hasn’t had to carry much weight this season — in 200-plus chases, the top and middle order have usually done the finishing. When the circumstances demanded it, he stepped in. Going deep in the crease against the full ones, getting low, he ensured even the hard-length deliveries travelled. The pace of Archer and Burger fed into his hands. The sixes that had been rare through the Powerplay and middle overs came quickly at the end. Punjab finished with 222. On another night, that total defends. It didn’t on this one.Brief scores: Punjab Kings 222/4 in 20 overs (Stoinis 62*, Prabhsimran 59, Connolly 30; Archer 1/40, Burger 1/59, Yash Raj Punja 2/41) lost to Rajasthan Royals 228/4 in 19.2 overs (Jaiswal 51, Ferreira 52*, Sooryavanshi 43, Dubey 31*; Chahal 3/36, Arshdeep 1/68) by 6 wickets.