IPL 2019: Match 4, RR vs KXIP – Kings XI Punjab Player Ratings

The first two days of the 2019 edition of the IPL provided some great entertainment to the fans, and unfolded a few surprises as well. After the eventful weekend, it was the time to have a first look at Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab this season. The stage was all set at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur as the pink jersey-clad RR hosted KXIP. It turned out to be a close contest with certainly quite a few talking points that would go down in the discussions for quite sometime.

In the match, it was the RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane who won the toss and opted to field. KXIP had a sluggish start to their innings and they lost KL Rahul cheaply as well. Chris Gayle got going, but in an uncharacteristic way. While batters around him got dismissed he ensured that he stayed on to pick up pace and eventually score 79 off 47 deliveries. His knock, combined with an unbeaten 46 from Sarfaraz Khan helped the Kings post a decent 184/4 in their 20 overs.

In the run chase, the Royals looked in firm control with Jos Buttler showing exceptional run of form. A horrid show of sportsmanship, as many claimed, from R Ashwin saw Buttler become the first man to be mankaded in IPL history. After Buttler’s dismissal on 69, the innings fell apart. RR collapsed from 148/2 to 170/9 in 20 overs and lost by 14 runs.

Here are the KXIP Player Ratings for the match:

Chris Gayle – 9/10

Chris Gayle has been in top form in the recent times. He continued his good form in this game as well and has made a strong start in the season. In the match, Gayle took his time to settle in. At one stage, he was batting on 27 off 25 balls. Soon, he manage to tee off and accelerate at will. He took special liking to Jaydev Unadkat and brought up his fifty. He was eventually dismissed on 79 that came off just 47 deliveries with 8 fours and 4 sixes.

KL Rahul – 1/10

KL Rahul had a big point to prove in the match. With the World Cup lingering round the corner, a lot of contenders of the squad are eyeing the IPL as a platform to show their good form. Rahul is no exception. However, he ended up edging one to the keeper in the very first over of the game and was sent packing on 4. He would hope to come up with better performances in the days to come.

Mayank Agarwal – 3/10

Mayank Agarwal has been an opener for a major part of his career. However, this season, he played at number 3 for Karnataka in the domestic T20 competition, and succeeded big time. No wonder why the KXIP camp played him at number 3 in the match. The move did not work a great deal though. After a good six first up, Agarwal got into a shell and could only score 22 off the 24 balls that he faced in the innings.

Sarfaraz Khan – 8/10

Young Sarfaraz Khan has already seen a lot of ups and downs in his short cricketing career thus far. Sarfaraz got only 7 matches to play last season when he camped with the Royal Challengers Bangalore. At the KXIP camp, he got his first opportunity to bat in the top order. The UP batsman grabbed the opportunity with both hands and hit an unbeaten 46 off 29 balls with 6 fours and six off the final ball of the innings.

Mandeep Singh – 5/10

Mandeep Singh did not have a great role to play in the game. He arrived at the crease in the final over of the match and showed some sense in getting the strike back to the set batsman Sarfaraz Khan.

Nicholas Pooran – 5/10

Nicholas Pooran is a proven hitter of the cricket ball. He had the stage setup perfectly for him to launch a final flourish in the innings. But Pooran found it tough to get going and seemed to struggle in picking up the pace of the wicket. He scored 12 off 14 balls. Behind the wickets, he looked decent with his glove work and relieved KL Rahul from the keeping duties.

Sam Curran – 4/10

Sam Curran arrived in the game with a big reputation to uphold. In the lead up to the season, he has been tipped as one of the top players to watch out for. Curran certainly did not have a perfect start to his IPL career. Albeit he managed to take two key wickets, that of Sanju Samson and Steve Smith, he was taken away for aplenty in the match. He conceded 52 runs in the four overs that he bowled on the day.

R Ashwin – 8.5/10

When the chips were down for his side, it was R Ashwin who showed great signs of a leader. The RR openers were going all guns blazing and it was Ashwin’s spell that curtailed the run flow. He provided the first breakthrough by dismissing Ajinkya Rahane on 27. Soon, he dismissed Jos Buttler in an infamous way, that would go down in the discussions for a long time. Ashwin finished with figures of 1/20 in his four overs.

Mujeeb Rahman – 7/10

Mujeeb Rahman is famous for bowling economically in the powerplays. It was not to be in this game though. Jos Buttler was too hot to handle for the Afghanistani youngster. Mujeeb, however, managed to pull things back by dismissing Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi in the fag end of the innings. He returned with good numbers of 2/31 in his complete quota of overs.

Mohammed Shami – 6/10

Mohammed Shami had a decent game in his maiden outing in the KXIP outfit. The scorecard might not suggest the same but he did bowl well in the game. He was taken away to the cleaners early on as he conceded 27 runs in his first three overs. But when the situation needed his expertise, in the penultimate over, he gave away only 6 runs leaving Ankit Rajpoot 22 runs to defend in the final over.

Ankit Rajpoot – 7/10

Ankit Rajpoot continued to impress with his bowling in the IPL. The lanky pacer picked up 2 wickets in the final over of the match and finished with figures of 2/33 in the four overs that he bowled. He bowled tight lines up front, but was unlucky to be hit around by a batsman who in sublime form on the day.

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