The left-hander capitalized on a rollicking 67-run stand between the in-form Paul Valthaty (46) and captain Adam Gilchrist (28) to lift the home side to 195-7, the highest total in this edition of the IPL.

In reply, Rajasthan could only manage 147-7 after Praveen Kumar took two early wickets.

It was the third win for Punjab, which now has six points from four games. Rajasthan has only five points from five games with two wins and a washed-out game.

On Wednesday, Mumbai Indians scored a last-ball seven-wicket victory over Pune Warriors while Kochi Tuskers defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by six runs in the IPL on Wednesday.

Mumbai's star middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma struck a six when one was needed to seal the win after Munaf Patel took three important wickets to help restrict Pune.

Patel finished with 3-8 as Mumbai dismissed Pune for 118 in 17.2 overs at Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai overhauled the score after useful contributions from Ambati Rayudu (37) and Sachin Tendulkar (35).

At Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Kochi could manage only 132-7 with Ravindra Jadeja top-scoring with 29, but restricted the home side to 126-9 to notch a third consecutive win.

The match in Mumbai turned out to be closer than expected.

Pune stretched Mumbai's reply to the last delivery with some tight bowling and fielding, before Sharma cleared the cover boundary for his team's third win in four matches.

Sharma (20 not out) and Andrew Symonds (16 not out) steered the team home after Rayudu and Tendulkar put on a 74-run stand in 12 overs for the second wicket.