IPL 2019: Match 32, KXIP vs RR - Who Said What

The Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) defeated the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 12 runs in Mohali in the match 32 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). It was a brilliant outing for the home team’s skipper Ravi Ashwin who slammed an unbeaten 17 off just four balls to propel his team’s score and then snaffled a couple of big wickets in the second innings to take his team over the line.

The Royals’ approach has to be questioned in the chase. Rahul Tripathi opened the innings on the day along with Jos Buttler. They started well but scoring runs became tough in the middle overs as the ball turned a fair way. But once the set batsmen got out, Ajinkya Rahane, batting at four, couldn’t force the pace. Stuart Binny came out to bat when 50 runs were needed off just 17 balls and slammed 33 off 11 deliveries.

But the Royals were so far behind in the chase and even that blitz couldn’t help the Royals as the KXIP won the match by 12 runs.

Rahul shines again

Earlier, Chris Gayle batted well to get to his 30 even as KL Rahul struggled. But he recovered well in the end and scored a half-century. The middle-order batsmen Mayank Agarwal and David Miller contributed well to the score but the visitors came back well at the death to choke KXIP. But Ravi Ashwin came out and changed the game completely to go into the break with some great momentum and that turned out to be match-winning in the end.

Man of the Match and Kings XI Punjab skipper, Ravi Ashwin said:

Very important to get that 10-point mark and I guess it’s the right time in the tournament to do that. Its very tough to defend here, the wicket generally gets better in the second half. We probably thought we were 10-15 runs short on this pitch and I thought Arshdeep bowled really well in the first few overs.

We had some plans for Jos and he really executed well. Mujeeb also I thought was brilliant, he went for a few runs but we got the wicket up front. He (Arshdeep) can actually swing the ball both ways and for a left-hander to swing both ways is a massive advantage in the front six as we have seen with Deepak Chahar in the CSK.

We are looking forward to Arshdeep doing some great things in the tournament. For me, it’s about getting various lengths with different speeds and trying to get the batsman with under cutter and reverse carom. I worked on a lot of things despite people actually calling me for trying too many things

I kept on going. Most of the changes are actually forced, we got Moises into the eleven today. He was actually handed the cap but unfortunately he got injured in the last minute. Miller wasn’t playing but he came in and played a vital hand for us, he took a couple of catches as well. We are waiting on Mujeeb’s status (injury) and Moises (Henriqyes) seems okay.

Rajasthan Royals skipper, Ajinkya Rahane said:

182 on that wicket was quite chaseable. We started well. Just a matter of two sixes. A game like this, you can’t criticise too much. Our bowlers bowled well. In a chase like this, you can’t lose too many wickets in a bunch. Discussion between me and Stuart was take it deep. Tripathi started really well. Should learn from our mistakes. These things happen in T20 cricket. Our two legspinners in the middle overs were brilliant. Jofra’s four overs were critical.

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