Chris Gayle's heroic 99 went in vain as a solid 60-run opening stand from Ben Stokes (26-ball 50) and Robin Uthappa (23-ball 30) and a sensational finishing act from Sanju Samson (25-ball 48) powered Rajasthan Royals to a seven-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab on Friday at Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. With a win in the do-or-die clash, RR has managed to keep their play-offs hopes alive and climb a couple of places in the IPL 2020 Points Table to move to fifth spot. For RR, Jofra Archer was, as usual, brilliant, with figures of 2/26.

Chasing 186 for the victory, Rajasthan Royals openers Robin Uthappa and Ben Stokes helped their team get off to a flying start. Stokes and Uthappa added 50-plus runs for the opening wicket. In the first innings too, Stokes came up with a valuable contribution as he bagged crucial wickets of KL Rahul and Nicholas Pooran in his 4 overs spell.

Just when Stokes notched up his half-century off just 24 balls, he was cleaned up two balls later by his England team-mate Chris Jordan. Jordan dismisses Stokes for 50, but not before the all-rounder gave his team a super start.

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The fiery start from Rajasthan, helped them reach 66/1 at the end of the powerplay. Just after smashing a six off M Ashwin, Uthappa decided to go big again, but picked Nicholas Pooran near the boundary rope to get caught for 30. After Uthappa's departure, Steve Smith joined Sanju at the crease with RR needing 74 runs in 54 balls.

With Samson and Smith at the crease, Rajasthan were cruising in the chase. Sanju Samson got run-out for 48, just two runs short of a well-deserved fifty. Joss Buttler joined Smith in the middle and the duo hit big sixes and blistering fours to further ease off the pressure and eventually help their team attain a seven wicket win over Punjab.

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Earlier, RR won the toss and opted to field first. The batting pair of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul gave an early momentum to their team after lethal speedster Jofra Archer removed opener Mandeep for a duck. Gayle (63-ball 99) and Rahul (41-ball 46) came up with a counter-attack after Jofra's early strike and added a solid 121-run partnership for the second wicket in quick time to help Kings XI Punjab make 185/4 against Rajasthan Royals in their allotted 20 overs.

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): KL Rahul(w/c), Mandeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Steven Smith(c), Sanju Samson(w), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi