It finally took a Super Over to stop the Rajasthan Royals juggernaut from rumbling along in the eighth edition of the Indian Premier League at Ahmedabad.
Kings XI Punjab came from behind to tie the match, which looked like going the Royals way after Kings looked like they had squandered a great opportunity. With the score tied at 191 runs, the Super Over helped Kings hand the Royals their first defeat in the tournament.
A decent crowd at the Sardar Patel Stadium witnessed a game between equals. While Kings had a lot of expectations on them in this leg of the IPL, the Royals had surprised all and sundry with their great start winning all games in the tournament thus far to be counted as a dangerous team.
Like they did in their previous encounter against Chennai Super Kings, Royals got off to a splendid start with their captain Shane Watson and "orange cap" holder Ajinkya Rahane putting on 95 runs before being separated. Watson continued his good form bashing the bowlers in his inimitable style while Rahane showed how much he has grown as a batsman in this season.
Delightful game
His copybook shots, mostly along the ground, were a delight to watch. The balls that he dispatched over the fence were played as correct as can be. Once again, the Mumbaikar proved that one does not need to play cow shots and across the line to maintain a high strike rate. His dismissal after scoring 74 runs off 54 balls, while trying to hit a typical Mitchell Johnson slider, put brakes on the Royals aspirations to pass the 200 runs barrier.
Chasing 191 runs was never going to be easy, especially when the Kings were 3 wickets down for 59 runs. Kings regular captain, George Bailey took a difficult decision to sit out to accommodate fellow Australian Shaun Marsh into the playing eleven. Marsh reinforced his skippers faith by scoring, what turned out to be, a match winning knock of 65 runs off 40 deliveries with an outstanding display of hard hitting batsmanship.
The left-hander passed on the mantle to another southpaw, David Miller who carried on the momentum much to the chagrin of the Royals. The pair kept their team in the game till Marsh fell to the resolute Pravin Tambe who bowled his heart out in a difficult situation.
Royals skipper Watson cleverly used his bowlers to put pressure on the Kings batsmen, with constant changes that kept the batsmen guessing. His strategy seemed to have worked till the 16th over, when the opposition had a tough ask with the chasing run rate hovering around 14 runs per over.
Taking a risk
He took a big risk when he put on Deepak Hooda to bowl the 17th over when he had leg-spinner Tambe at his disposal. Hooda’s off-spin got rid of danger man Miller but not before he had been creamed for a crucial 14 runs. The Royals were now sniffing an opportunity for a victory. One cannot blame Watson for bowling Hooda because a right-arm off spinner is the safest bet to bowl to a left handed batsmen.
Having a batting line-up that bats till number eight is what eventually worked for Kings who tied the game with Johnson and Axar Patel playing important cameos. The victory eventually went the Kings way as they had Johnson’s pace and experience compared to that of Royals pacer Chris Morris who erred in his length.
After five consecutive wins, the Royals team management should not lose any sleep after this defeat because their team played superb cricket and did not give up till the last ball. They would do well to think of this loss as an important nudge that will wake up the team and motivate them to do better in their next game against Royal Challengers Bangalore this coming Friday.
Kings XI Punjab 15 for 2 beat Rajasthan Royals 6 for 2 in the Super Over.
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Kings XI Punjab came from behind to tie the match, which looked like going the Royals way after Kings looked like they had squandered a great opportunity. With the score tied at 191 runs, the Super Over helped Kings hand the Royals their first defeat in the tournament.
A decent crowd at the Sardar Patel Stadium witnessed a game between equals. While Kings had a lot of expectations on them in this leg of the IPL, the Royals had surprised all and sundry with their great start winning all games in the tournament thus far to be counted as a dangerous team.
Like they did in their previous encounter against Chennai Super Kings, Royals got off to a splendid start with their captain Shane Watson and "orange cap" holder Ajinkya Rahane putting on 95 runs before being separated. Watson continued his good form bashing the bowlers in his inimitable style while Rahane showed how much he has grown as a batsman in this season.
Delightful game
His copybook shots, mostly along the ground, were a delight to watch. The balls that he dispatched over the fence were played as correct as can be. Once again, the Mumbaikar proved that one does not need to play cow shots and across the line to maintain a high strike rate. His dismissal after scoring 74 runs off 54 balls, while trying to hit a typical Mitchell Johnson slider, put brakes on the Royals aspirations to pass the 200 runs barrier.
Chasing 191 runs was never going to be easy, especially when the Kings were 3 wickets down for 59 runs. Kings regular captain, George Bailey took a difficult decision to sit out to accommodate fellow Australian Shaun Marsh into the playing eleven. Marsh reinforced his skippers faith by scoring, what turned out to be, a match winning knock of 65 runs off 40 deliveries with an outstanding display of hard hitting batsmanship.
The left-hander passed on the mantle to another southpaw, David Miller who carried on the momentum much to the chagrin of the Royals. The pair kept their team in the game till Marsh fell to the resolute Pravin Tambe who bowled his heart out in a difficult situation.
Royals skipper Watson cleverly used his bowlers to put pressure on the Kings batsmen, with constant changes that kept the batsmen guessing. His strategy seemed to have worked till the 16th over, when the opposition had a tough ask with the chasing run rate hovering around 14 runs per over.
Taking a risk
He took a big risk when he put on Deepak Hooda to bowl the 17th over when he had leg-spinner Tambe at his disposal. Hooda’s off-spin got rid of danger man Miller but not before he had been creamed for a crucial 14 runs. The Royals were now sniffing an opportunity for a victory. One cannot blame Watson for bowling Hooda because a right-arm off spinner is the safest bet to bowl to a left handed batsmen.
Having a batting line-up that bats till number eight is what eventually worked for Kings who tied the game with Johnson and Axar Patel playing important cameos. The victory eventually went the Kings way as they had Johnson’s pace and experience compared to that of Royals pacer Chris Morris who erred in his length.
After five consecutive wins, the Royals team management should not lose any sleep after this defeat because their team played superb cricket and did not give up till the last ball. They would do well to think of this loss as an important nudge that will wake up the team and motivate them to do better in their next game against Royal Challengers Bangalore this coming Friday.
Kings XI Punjab 15 for 2 beat Rajasthan Royals 6 for 2 in the Super Over.