IPL 2018: Match 38, KXIP vs RR- Who Said What

The match between the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Holkar Stadium in Indore turned out to be another nail-biter. Rajasthan stumbled to 152/9 in 20 overs. For KXIP, KL Rahul put his head down and ensured that the home team won by six wickets and moved to the third position in the league table above the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).

Rajasthan stumble along

Ravichandran Ashwin won the toss and elected to field first. D’Arcy Short and Jos Buttler opened for the Royals. They got off to the worst possible start as Ashwin removed Short. Ajinkya Rahane couldn’t survive for long and was nipped out by Axar Patel courtesy a stunning catch by Chris Gayle in the short third-man region. Sanju Samson and Buttler resurrected the innings to some extent.

The duo racked up a 49-run stand, which brought some momentum back for the Royals. The stand was broken by Andrew Tye, who dismissed Samson with a short delivery. Thereafter, Mujeeb Ur Rahman triggered a mini collapse and got rid of Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer in quick succession. Shreyas Gopal’s late surge down the order guided Punjab past the 150-run mark for the loss of nine wickets.

Rahul takes Punjab home

During their run-chase, Punjab lost Chris Gayle early as the raw pace of Archer accounted for his dismissal. Stokes churned out Mayank Agarwal’s wicket which somewhat pulled the game in the Royals’ favour. KL Rahul, on the contrary, played his strokes and built a 50-run stand with Karun Nair, who scored 31 runs. The latter was dismissed by Anureet Singh, who played his first match this season.

Rahul curbed his natural instincts and didn’t blaze away. He eventually scored a brilliant half-century off 44 balls with a marvellous six over the third man region off Jofra Archer. Thereafter, he came on to his own and finished the game in style. He scored 84 not out and guided Punjab to the third position in the league table. Meanwhile, the Royals remain at the bottom of the table.

Ajinkya Rahane, the skipper of the Rajasthan Royals, said,

“Pretty disappointed. 170-175 on this pitch would have very good. We didn’t bat very well, including me. Guys have to learn. Bowlers in IPL are bowling well. We lost crucial wickets, didn’t get partnerships. We cannot give excuses all the time.

We are all professional cricketers. It’s all about execution as I mentioned. As batsmen, we were in doubt about whether we should go for our shots or not. (Talking about KL Rahul’s catch) was a clear catch but the umpires thought otherwise. We are still in the game. We can win five out of five now.”

Ravichandran Ashwin, the skipper of the Kings XI Punjab, said

We didn’t play for some time and we hadn’t got any points over the last two weeks. There was a bit of nervousness and it’s glad to get two points. This win is good because we were tested in our batting. One of our batsmen batted deep and that’s what we’ve been asking for.

Most of our wins have been set up the bowlers, 12 points have been set up by the bowlers. Good to know that one department is firing on all cylinders. Many of the batters are inexperienced and as the tournament goes on, I expect them to do better. Didn’t come with any expectations to be honest, just came here to gauge the situation and do my best.

The most important thing for a captain is to rotate the bowlers well and to get the batting order right. The guys who let me down will win me games tomorrow, that’s the perspective I came here with.

For all the latest cricket news and other updates follow CricTracker.