During the fourth match of the ongoing season of the cash-rich, Indian Premier League (IPL) between the northern rivals Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The KXIP opener, Chris Gayle registered his 25th IPL half-century as he amassed 79 runs off just 47 balls. He helped KXIP to reach the total of 184/4 which was sufficient for them to win the game by 14 runs.
After winning the toss, the RR skipper, Ajinkya Rahane decided to bowl first and his bowlers responded well as Dhawan Kulkarni dismissed KXIP opener, KL Rahul in the first over itself leaving with Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle at the crease. During the toss, the KXIP skipper, R Ashwin revealed foreign players in the squad as Gayle, Mujeeb Zadran, Sam Curran and Nicholas Pooran. On the other hand, RR decided to go with Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Steve Smith, and Jofra Archer.
WATCH – Twitterati Slams Ashwin For Mankading Jos Buttler
Despite the rough start, Mayank and Gayle stabilized the innings as they amassed 56 runs for the second wicket. Gayle took his time before letting loose. The same was evident from the fact that KXIP had managed just 32 runs in the first six overs. But Gayle storm and some good batting from Sarfraz Khan (46) helped the Kings to reach the total of 184/4 in their quota of 20 overs.
Ashwin’s Mankading
During the chase, the RR openers, Rahane and Jos Buttler punished the visiting bowlers badly as they were 64/0 after the powerplay was over. But, Ashwin broke the partnership of 78 runs in the 9th over. He also dismissed Buttler in the 13th over in one of the more bizarre way possible as he Mankaded Buttler on the penultimate delivery of the over.
Here is the video of the same:
https://twitter.com/Vidshots1/status/1110235331343740928
This turned the game completely in the KXIP’s favor as RR lost the wickets in regular intervals as they lost the game by 14 runs in Jaipur.
Brief Score:
Kings XI Punjab – 184/4 (C Gayle: 79, S Khan: 46*; B Stokes: 2/48) defeated Rajasthan Royals – 170/9 (J Buttler: 69; Mujeeb Rahman: 2/31, A Rajpoot: 2/33) by 14 runs
