07th April 2010, Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur: Shane Warne calls his home ground in Jaipur & Ahmedabad as their fortress and RR showed exactly why - as they inflicted a comprehensive nine wicket defeat on Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). Jaipur, where RR has never lost a game witnessed another clinical performance from their home team.
Shane Warne is a proud man as in every game one of his players comes out and just takes the game by the scruff of its neck and wins it for RR. In this game it was Michael Lumb’s turn. The dynamic Royals opener was in sublime form as he smashed KXIP bowlers all around the park to make a quick fire 83 off just 43 balls. His innings was filled with sixteen boundaries and two sixes. Lumb along with Naman Ojha (44) put on a partnership of 109 runs for the first wicket. Yusuf Pathan walked in and gave the final touch with some massive hits.
Earlier in the day RR bowlers once again put up a brilliant show to restrict KXIP to 153. KXIP at one stage were 82 for two after 10 overs. However, bowlers came back extremely well. Aditya Dole provided the important break through getting the wickets of Yuvraj Singh and Mahela Jayawardena in the 12th over. Shane Watson (1/19) after a couple of bad games with the ball did a wonderful job in this game. Yusuf Pathan also bowled miserly and accurately to keep the KXIP in check. Yusuf has really been a surprise package as he has mostly bowled in the powerplays for RR and does a brilliant job at it. Siddharth Trivedi (2/22) was brilliant as usual and picked up two important wickets at vital stages of the game.
All in all it was a brilliant display by RR. The bigger challenge lies ahead for them since the outcome of the next three games will decide their fate in the tournament. To consolidate their position in the semi-finals RR will have to focus on their fielding which is something that still needs a lot of improvement. With three games to go this performance is sure to give RR great confidence going into their next game against Mumbai Indians.
Match details:
Match: RR V KXIP
Date: 07th April, 2010
Venue: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
Toss: Kings XI Punjab, who chose to bat
MoM: Michael Lumb
Breif scores:
KXIP – 153/6 – M Jayawardene 44(33b, 6X4, 1X6), Y Singh 28(16b, 1X4, 3X6) S Trivedi 4-0-22-2
RR – 157/1 – M Lumb 83(43b, 16X4, 2X6) N Ojha 44* (37b, 4X4, 1X6) R Bopara 2-0-18-1
Result: RR won by 9 wickets.