JOIN USRoyals register kingly victory
Chasing 184 to win, Kings XI suffered a spectacular collapse losing their last eight wickets for a paltry 45 runs as Rajasthan went up to joint fourth place with four points from five outings in the Indian Premier League III. Punjab could muster only 152 before getting bundled out with five balls to spare.
This was Royals’ second straight win after suffering three consecutive losses. For the tottering Kings XI, the defeat came as a huge blow and they were now pushed to the bottom of the chart with two points from five matches.
At one point, the Punjab team was galloping towards victory with the scorecard reading 107 for two in the 11th over; a run-rate of nearly 10 an over. However, the loss of Yuvraj Singh triggered a collapse as the late order batsmen failed to capitalize on the good start provided by Ravi Bopara, skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Manvinder Bisla.
Sangakkara and Bopara gave a flying start to the hosts’ chase as they raced to 41 in four overs. The Sri Lankan left-hander struck six boundaries to score 29 off just 13 balls. Bisla sustained the momentum with lusty blows as he struck a quick-fire 35 off only 18 balls studded with two sixes and four fours and during that phase victory seemed so near to the Punjab outfit.
Fine rally
However, Royals came back into the match after the initial pounding. Pacer Siddharth Trivedi led Rajasthan’s revival in the middle overs with a fine effort (2-25) and Yusuf Pathan (2-9) too chipped in with a handy contribution. Australian paceman Shaun Tait, after a wayward beginning, came back strongly to take three wickets to stop Kings XI on their tracks.
Earlier, Sangakkara won the toss and put Royals into bat. England import Michael Lumb provided initial spark to Royals’ innings as they raced to 50 in just 5.1 overs. Lumb struck a fine 30-ball 41 which included seven hits to the fence before being stumped by Sangakkara off leg-spinner Piyush Chawla. Yusuf (28 off 19 balls) kept up the pace with some meaty blows. Later, Faiz Faizal (45) and Adam Voges stitched together a 60-run partnership in 37 balls to propel the team score to 183 in 20 overs.
Voges remained unbeaten on 45 which came off only 24 balls and included a six and five boundaries.
Score Board
RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Michael Lumb st Sangakkara b Chawla 41; Naman Ojha c Srivastava b Sreesanth 13; Faiz Fazal (run out) 45; Yusuf Pathan c Yuvraj b Srivastava 28; Adam Voges (not out) 45; Paras Dogra (run out) 1; Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (not out) 0; Extras (LB-3, W-5, NB-2) 10; Total (5 wkts. 20 overs) 183
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-60, 3-111, 4-171, 5-179.
Bowling: Irfan Pathan 4-0-45-0; Sreesanth 3-0-20-1; Shalabh Srivastava 4-0-49-1; Juan Theron 4-0-25-0; Piyush Chawla 4-0-29-1; Yuvraj 1-0-12-0.
KINGS XI PUNJAB: Ravi Bopara c Trivedi b Patel 25; Kumar Sangakkara c Fazal b Tait 29; Manvinder Bisla c Lumb b Warne 35; Yuvraj Singh c Fazal b Trivedi 15; Mahela Jayawardene c Jhunjhunwala b Trivedi 23; Irfan Pathan (run out) 1 1; Mohammad Kaif lbw Pathan 8; Piyush Chawla c Tait b Pathan 8; Juan Theron c Patel b Tait 2; S Sreesanth (not out) 0; Shalabh Srivastava b Tait 0; Extras (LB-2, W-3, NB-1) 6; Total (all out; 19.1 overs) 152
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-85, 3-107, 4-113, 5-115, 6-126, 7-136, 8-140, 9-152.
Bowling: Munaf Patel 4-0-43-1, Shaun Tait 3.1-0-22-3, Shane Warne 4-0-39-1, Siddharth Trivedi 4-0-25-2, Voges 2-0-12-0, Pathan 2-0-9-2.