RR thrash KXIP by 15 runs, stay alive in playoff hunt

Kings XI Punjab have won the toss and opted to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

KL Rahul waged a lone battle but his efforts were not enough to guide King XI Punjab home as Rajasthan Royals thrashed the visitors by 15 runs to stay alive in the playoff hunt at the Sawai Man Singh stadiumin Jaipur on Tuesday.

Chasing 159 on tricky surface, King XI Punjab could only manage to muster 143/7 with KL Rahul smashing an unbeaten 95. The 26-year-old saw one batsman after the other to depart in quick succession as he fought hard to take KXIP closer to victory.

The dream start was provided by Krishnappa Gowtham as the off-spinner sent back the dangerous Chris Gayle with the first ball of the third over. The spinner slid one down the leg side and Gayle charged down the wicket, only to be excellently stumped by Buttler.

 The massive breakthrough spurred Royals and they soon had more reason to cheer as Gowtham removed KXIP skipper Ravichandran Ashwin, who promoted himself up the order, two balls later.

Jofra Archer then got into the act as he had Karun Nair hitting one high in the air for Jaidev Unadkat to complete a well-judged catch.

Wickets kept falling and runs were to hard to come by but Rahul held fort, mixing caution with aggression with his team in a crisis situation.

The Rahane Catch

That's how you celebrate getting the Test captaincy. @ajinkyarahane88's smart diving catch in @IPL https://t.co/0edp99kRKD

— Aritra Mukherjee (@aritram029) May 9, 2018

Ish Sodhi bowled beautifully to not only take a wicket - of Akshdeep Nath -- but also stymie the KXIP run rate. The New Zealand leg-spinner's turning deliveries and variations had the legendary Shane Warne applauding from the dugout.

with this win Rajasthan Royals keep their playoff hopes alive. The Ajinkya Rahane led side has 8 points in 10 games and will have to win their remaining fixtires with considerable run-rate to seal their position in the final four.

Rajasthan Royals innings

Jos Buttler led the way with a blazing 58-ball 82 before Kings XI Punjab bowlers fought back and restricted Rajasthan Royals to 158 for eight in the Indian Premier League.

The hosts, who are struggling at the bottom of the table with only three wins from nine outings, opted to bat after winning the toss at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Pacer Andre Tye was the most successful KXIP bowler, returning figures of 4/34, while mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman picked up 2/21 in four overs.

Opening the innings, Buttler began Royals' innings in earnest, hitting Marcus Stoinis for two successive boundaries in the first over.

The Englishman looked in rampaging form as he smashed Axar Patel for a six over extra cover before going inside out to collect a boundary.

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed by Tye, who fooled the batsman with a knuckleball, inducing an edge to extra cover. But Buttler continued his onslaught on the Rajasthan bowlers as he picked two consecutive boundaries off Tye.

Krishnappa Gowtham, too, fell quickly as he was sent back by Stoinis in the seventh over.

A hahalf-century partnership then ensued between Buttler and the talented Sanju Samson (22) but the run rate dropped as the Royals batsmen, including the Englishman, struggled to find the boundaries.

After the brisk start, there was a period in the middle overs when Rajasthan Royals failed to hit a boundary for 25 balls. Buttler finally managed a boundary off Mujeeb Ur Rahman and then got a four off the bowling of Axar, thanks to poor fielding by Tye.

But that was it as RR again went without a boundary for 14 deliveries before Samson produced a flat-batted six off Ravichandran Ashiwn, sending the ball over long-off.

Samson brought up the fifty partnership by playing Ashwin for another boundary, but Mujeeb struck for Kings XI Punjab when he had the batsman who struggled to play freely during his 18-ball stay in the middle.

Finally, Buttler's innings came to an end when Mujeeb had him stumped with Royals' score reading 132 for four in the 17th over. He stuck nine fours and a six.

Stuart Binny hit Tye for a six but Rajasthan simply lost their after a flying start.

Toss and Team News

Kings XI Punjab have won the toss and opted to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Rajasthan Royals XI: Ajinkya Rahane, D Arcy Short, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat, Anureet Singh

Rahane makes three changes in the must win game for RR. Stuart Binny, Mahipal Lomror and Ish Sodhi are in the playing XI.

Kings XI Punjab XI: Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, Manoj Tiwary, MP Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ankit Rajpoot

Two changes for Punjab in the playing XI. Mayank Agarwal and Ankit Rajpoot make way for Akshdeep Nath and Mohit Sharma.

Preview

Languishing at the bottom of the table, Rajasthan Royals need nothing less than a miracle to remain in contention for the IPL Play-offs when they take on Kings XI Punjab in a do-or-die battle, here tomorrow.

Three consecutive defeats have more or less sealed their fate and for things to turn around for the Royals, every aspect of their game needs to improve and click for them.

They are taking on Punjab, placed third in the table, just a day after losing to them by six wickets in Indore, where neither the bowlers nor the batsmen could do a convincing job. 

Nothing has gone right for the winners of the inaugural edition of the IPL, who lost their pillar -- Australian Steven Smith -- to ball-tampering scandal.

The lackluster performance by their batsmen and bowlers have landed them in a position where they need to win all their remaining games and also pray for favourable results in order to qualify for the play-offs.

The hosts are back on their home turf, where they have recorded two of their three victories, but they need to start afresh.

Three consecutive defeats, including a narrow one against Delhi Daredevils, has left them demoralised and their mentor, the legendary Shane Warne, too wore a dejected look in the dugout from where he saw the Royals miss out on half chances.

Average performance by captain Ajinkya Rahane and below-par show of English all-rounder Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi has hurt them badly and the hosts need all these batsmen to fire.

West Indian bowler Jofra Archer, though, has been impressive and the only saving grace for them while expensive pacer Jaydev Unadkat has been a complete let-down, taking just seven wickets at a poor 9.86 economy rate.

On the other hand, the visitors are back to winning ways after an emphatic triumph over the Royals and would look to consolidate their position in the top-four. Punjab can even take the second place if they win tomorrow, provided they improve their NRR.

Though they rely heavily on good partnerships between Chris Gayle and KL Rahul the likes of  Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair and Marcus Stoinis have been able to contribute handsomely.

Their bowling too has the variety with old warhorse R. Ashwin, Axar Patel and the new sensation from Afghanistan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, proving more than handful for the opponent.

Teams

Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, D Arcy Short, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Sudhesan Midhun, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Aryaman Birla, Jatin Saxena, Dushmantha Chameera,  Heinrich Klaasen, Ish Sodhi.

Kings XI Punjab Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Axar Patel, Yuvraj Singh, Karun Nair, Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, David Miller, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, Mayank Agarwal, Ankit Rajpoot, Manoj Tiwary, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Barinder Sran, Andrew Tye, Akshdeep Nath, Ben Dwarshuis, Pardeep Sahu, Mayank Dagar, Manzoor Dar.