File Picture Courtesy : NewIndianExpress
Seeking a desperate win on their home turf Jaipur, Rajasthan Royals kept alive their hopes of a play-offs as they beat Kings XI Punjab in crucial IPL encounter by 15 runs.
Winning the toss , Ajinkya Rahane, the Royals skipper chose to bat first and English opener Jos Buttler gave the hosts a flying start with brilliant strokes all around the ground. Buttler hit a brilliant 58 ball 82 to help Royals reach 158/ 8 in 20 0vers. Pacer Andre Tye was the most successful KXIP bowler, returning figures of 4/34, while mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman picked up 2/21 in four overs.
Then some good bowling by Ish Sodhi, K Gowtham and for once their fielding , which had been ordinary so far finally looked sharp and they took some fine catches to restrict the Kings to 143 for 7.
Gowtham struck two early blows for the Kings while chasing as he had Chris Gayle stumped and later bowled Kings XI skipper Ravichandran Ashwin to rattle the visitors. Jofra Archer then had Karun Nair caught by Jaydev Unadkat to send the Kings reeling at 19 for 3.
Despite the fall of wickets round him K L Rahul , produced yet another master class innings to score a brilliant unbeaten 95 off 70 balls. He has been sensational in this year’s IPL With this win the RR moves to the sixth place, while KXIP remained in the third position.
