In the 38th game of IPL 2018, hosts Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) claimed an important victory after beating Rajasthan Royals (RR) by the 6-wicket (with 8 balls to spare) at Holkar Cricket Stadium (Indore) on Sunday night. RR put a total of 152/9 in 20 overs which was successfully chased by the hosts in 18.4 overs after losing 4 wickets.
KXIP captain Ravichandran Ashwin decided to field first after winning the toss. While Rajasthan Jos Buttler (51 runs) scored a brilliant half-century, another opener D’Arcy Short (2 runs) and no.3 skipper batsman Ajinkya Rahane (5 runs) were dismissed cheaply.
No.4 batsman Sanju Samson also played an important knock of 28 runs off 23 balls while he put an important 49-run partnership for the third wicket with the opener Buttler. While both of them were dismissed, next visiting batsmen couldn’t stay long in the crease.
While it was looking like Rajasthan couldn’t even manage the 150+ total, no.9 batsman Shreyas Gopal played an important 24 runs innings off just 16 balls (3 fours) before getting run-out in the very last ball of that innings. That knock helped his team to put 152 runs on the board for the loss of 9 wickets at the end of the innings.
Among the KXIP bowlers, Mujeeb Ur Rahman was the best bowler with the 4-0-27-3 bowling figure. Also, Andrew Tye (2/24) picked up two wickets while skipper Ravichandran Ashwin (1/30), Ankit Rajpoot (1/37) and Axar Patel (1/21) got one wicket each.
In reply, in-form opener KL Rahul superbly guided KXIP for the victory while most of the other batsmen struggled against RR bowlers. Another opener Chris Gayle was dismissed for just 8 runs while Mayank Agarwal scored just 2 runs.
No.4 batsman Karun Nair played an important inning of 31 runs and put a crucial 50-run partnership for the third wicket. While Axar Patel again failed as he scored just 4 runs, Marcus Stoinis helped Rahul to secure the victory.
After completing his half-century in 44 balls, Rahul was unbeaten on 84 runs off 54 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes. Stoinis was also not out on 23 runs off 16 balls while he put an unbroken 68-run partnership with Rahul for the fifth wicket.
Among the RR bowlers, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and ANureet Singh claimed one wicket each.
Here are the Twitter reactions:
Always rate finishing games as a very high quality in batsman and KL Rahul did it so brilliantly today. Good performance by the boys and really well led by Ashwin #KXIPvRR
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) May 6, 2018
Very impressive run chase by Kings 11 Punjab. KL Rahul was 48 of 43 and just like what top batsmen do,was able to accelerate quickly and scored 36 of his next 11. The running between the wickets,the twos was a standout feature as well #KXIPvRR
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) May 6, 2018
#KXIPvRR
You might not see another such thing forever in life "Gayle dive in to take the catch" pic.twitter.com/nx5AqA9Du7— Rohit Sharma (@imWrong45) May 6, 2018
Great bowling @Mujeeb_Zadran @IPL 👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/upnuzXkMzs
— Mohammad Nabi (@MohammadNabi007) May 6, 2018
Fantastic innings from @klrahul11 taking responsibility and closing out a match is the hallmark of real class.
Well played.
Single handedly won @lionsdenkxip this game. #KXIPvRR— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) May 6, 2018
3 Wickets In 4 Balls. That's A Game Turning Performance. Mujeeb Ur Rahman Has Snatched This Game From Rajasthan Royals Into Kings XI's Den. 🦁🙏#KXIPvRR #KXIPvsRR
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) May 6, 2018
Who is the 3rd umpire?! BAN HIM. #KXIPvRR
— Suresh (@srtxt7) May 6, 2018
Indore crowd seem to be booing. Most likely stadium food vendors have run out of Sev and Namkeen. #IPL
— cricBC (@cricBC) May 6, 2018
#KXIPvRR
Everybody is living up to their name so far –
Short not reaching any heights.
Buttler delivering.
Rajpoot helping Rajasthan.— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) May 6, 2018
Mayank Agarwal did all the hard work to convert that catch to wicket…
But scorecard says
One catch to Manoj Tiwary
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) May 6, 2018
The thing about that catch is that it will go down in the records as ‘Caught Manoj Tiwary’.😊#IPL2018
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) May 6, 2018
3rd umpire has been acting like your significant half deciding what to wear when she has to meet her old friends. #ipl
— cricBC (@cricBC) May 6, 2018
Kings XI Punjab Beat Rajasthan Royals By 6 Wickets. KL Rahul 84* (54) Is Having A Great Tournament So Far. Definitely Deserves A Place In Team India. 💪🙏 #KXIPvRR #KXIPvsRR
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) May 6, 2018
