Rajasthan Royals quickies conquered Kings XI Punjab

Rajasthan Royals 4-126 (Ajinkya Rahane 34*, Shane Watson 32, Praveen Kumar 2-10) beat Kings XI Punjab 124 (David Hussey 41, Azhar Mahmood 23, Sreesanth 2-20, James Faulkner 2-30) by six wickets.

The strong looking batting line up of Kings XI Punjab surrendered against the fast bowling of Rajasthan Royals in a low scoring IPL game at Jaipur.

Kings XI Punjab was bowled out for 124 runs with seven balls remaining and Rajasthan Royals reached 126 for the loss of four wickets in 19.2 overs.

James Faulkner (Rajasthan Royals) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his excellent bowling and fielding.

The 18th match of the Indian Premier League was played on Sunday, April 14, 2013, at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Earlier, Rahul Dravid, the captain of Rajasthan Royals, won the toss and offered the batting to Kings XI Punjab. The decision was applied by the pace bowler Sreesanth when he got rid of the two openers in his very first over and Manan Vohra was run out for three runs. The visitors were in dire trouble at 3-10 in 3.3 overs when David Hussey and Gurkeet Singh joined together in the center. They added 24 runs in the next two overs with 1 six and 2 fours from Hussey and 1 four from the latter. Gurkeet Singh was caught behind by Sanju Samson off Siddharath Trivedi for 10.

Rajagopal Sathish came in next as Hussey continued with his attacking mode and they took the score to 67 in 11.4 overs. Sathish lost his wicket for 11 and David Hussey left the field eight runs later for 41 off 31 balls with 1 six and 4 fours. Azhar Mahmoud was stranded at one end as the wickets kept on sliding from the other. He was clean bowled finally by Kevin Cooper for 23 off 20 with 3 fours as the entire team was sent back to the pavilion at 124 in 18.5 overs.

The four speedsters of Rajasthan Royals, Sreesanth, Kevon Cooper, James Faulkner and Siddharath Trivedi shared two wickets each.

Ajinkya Rahane - A watchful match winning knock of 34
Ajinkya Rahane – A watchful match winning knock of 34

Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane got off to a perfect start as the first dispatched three consecutive fours in the second over. He kept the pace of scoring while adding another 4 fours in the following overs and the partnership flourished to 43 in 4.4 overs. Shane Watson was caught by Mandeep Singh at mid-on at the bowling of Parvinder Awana for 32 off just 19 deliveries with 7 fours. Praveen Kumar dismissed Rahul Dravid along with Stuart Binny in the eighth over for 9 and 0 runs respectively as Rajasthan Royals were reeling at 3-58 in 7.5 overs.

Brad Hodge got together with Rahane and they tried to take control of the situation. The latter tried to hold his end while Hodge sent the ball out of the fence twice but was declared leg before wicket off Piyush Chawla for 15. The fourth wicket fell at 79 in 12.5 overs as Sanju Samson took guards next and was dropped at four runs on the third ball of the 14th over off Azhar Mahmood. Rahane kept on playing a watchful innings and the hundred of the innings appeared on board in the 16th over. The pair accumulated 11 runs two overs later with a couple of fours and the target was achieved on the second ball of the last over. Ajinkya Rahane secured his end with 34 off 42 with 3 fours whereas Sanju Samson remained unbeaten for 27 from 23 comprising 3 boundaries as the score was taken to 126.

Praveen Kumar was the top wicket taker with two whereas Parvinder Awana and Piyush Chawla claimed one each.

Rajasthan Royals won the match by a healthy margin of six wickets and that was their third victory from the four games played so far.


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