IPL 2020
Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson Seals Dominating Win For RR Over KXIP
By CricShots - Oct 31, 2020 1:02 am
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In the 50th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 7 wickets as they chased down the target of 186 runs with 15 balls to spare. Having won the toss, RR chose to field in what was a must-win affair for them, and their in-form players, Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson played fiery knocks to take their team home. Unlike KXIP, RR knew that a loss would not be curtains for them.

chris gayle
Chris Gayle added another record

Going ahead unchanged, the Royals got the wicket of Mandeep Singh in the first over itself owing to the brilliant bouncer by Jofra Archer. Although a similar story unfolded as Archer was left unsupported from the other end as Chris Gayle and KL Rahul kept the scoreboard as they added 53 runs in the powerplay. While Rahul was playing cautiously, Gayle raced away to his half-century in his brutal style.

ALSO READ: Chris Gayle Completes 1000 Sixes In T20, Twitterati Went Berserk

After the early breakthrough, the Royals’ bowlers were torn apart by Gayle as along with KXIP skipper, the Universe Boss added 121 runs for the second wicket. In the 14th over, Rahul (46 from 41) holed out to deep midwicket, where Rahul Tewatia made no mistake. Joined by his countryman Nicholas Pooran (22 from 10), Gayle continued to massacre the bowlers as the latter completed the tally of 1000 sixes in T20s. He was at 99 when a searing yorker on the leg-stump by Jofra Archer denied Gayle a scintillating century.

ben stokes
Ben Stokes scored another fiery fifty

Coming to chase a daunting target, Ben Stokes came out all guns blazing as his early assault was evident, as while still in the powerplay, the Englishman got to himself a half-century. Giving some reason to his team to smile, Chris Jordan snapped Stokes (50 from 26) on the last ball of the powerplay, who gave a straight catch to Deepak Hooda. 

Despite taking a wicket, KXIP failed to turn the game in their favor as Uthappa along with Samson kept on tonking the bowlers consistently as they helped the team to reach103/1 at the halfway mark. Just when Uthappa tried to shift gears, he was dismissed by Murugan Ashwin leaving the Royals 111/2.

WATCH – Ben Stokes Takes An Unthinkable Catch To Send Back Mandeep Singh 

Samson (48 from 25) continued his hitting from the other end, although he ran himself out in the 15th over while trying to steal a quick single on the call of the RR skipper, Steve Smith. While KXIP might have thought to claw their way back in, Steven Smith (31* from 20) and Jos Buttler (22* from 11) joined hands to ensure that they took their team across the line with 15 balls to spare.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to RR’s dominating win: