24th March 2010 - Punjab Cricket Association, Mohali, Chandigarh : Shane Warne after the RCB defeat promised that his team would bounce back and indeed the team did not let him down. Rajasthan Royals put on another brilliant performance to beat Kings XI Punjab by 31 runs. RR seemed to carry on from where they left in the last game. They played with confidence, their batsman batted with aggression, their bowlers bowled with lot of penetration and their fielders fielded with a lot of commitment. This is the second clinical performance by RR in a row.
Put into bat by Kumar Sangakkara, RR got off to a flying start thanks to Michael Lumb and Naman Ojha who put on 35 runs in less than 4 overs before losing Naman Ojha in the fourth over. Lumb and Fazal carried on RR charge. Lumb looked very impressive during his knock of 40 runs (30b, 7X4) but was stumped by Sangakkara off Piyush Chawla. Yusuf Pathan and Faiz Fazal put on an important 51-run stand before Pathan perished looking to accelerate the scoring. Fazal anchored the RR innings and made a vital contribution of 45 runs (38b, 5X4, 1X6). Adam Voges provided the last push for the RR with a blistering 45 runs (24b, 5X4, 1X6) hitting KXIP bowlers all around the park. Voges once again proved that his presence in the RR middle order makes a lot of difference to the RR side. A late charge from Voges meant that RR ended with a very challenging score of 183 for 5 in 20 overs.
KXIP began their innings with a flurry of boundaries and some of them were aided by some good fortune. KXIP raced to 76 for 1 after 6 overs. However, RR’s inspirational skipper Shane Warne produced an important breakthrough removing M Bisla for 35(18b, 4X4, 2X6) who looked like taking the game away from RR. From then on RR bowlers especially Siddharth Trivedi showed a lot of discipline and put pressure on KXIP batsman. Trivedi was rewarded with the wicket of Yuvraj Singh and suddenly RR was back in the game. RR bowlers continued to stifle KXIP batsman and pressure to score quickly got to them and they threw their wickets away. RR bowlers held their nerve during the later stages of the innings to secure a very important victory for their team.
After three successive defeats RR have bounced back with back-to-back victories. The last two performances clearly illustrate that RR team might not have star players but they play as a unit and they play with passion. RR would like to continue their good run of their form and not relax before they book a semi-finals berth.
Match details:
Match: RR V KXIP
Date: 24th March, 2010
Venue: Punjab Cricket Association, Mohali, Chandigarh
Toss: Kings XI Punjab, who chose to field
MoM: Adam Voges
Breif scores:
RR – 183/5 – A Voges 45(24b, 5X4, 1X6), F Fazal 45(38b, 5X4, 1X6) P Chawla 4-0-29-1
KXIP – 152 all out – M Bisla 35(18b, 4X4, 2X6) K Sangakkara 29(13b, 6X4) S Tait 2-0-12-0
Result: RR won by 31 runs.