Kevon Cooper has been named the Man of the Match.
Sanju Samson was once again admirable in his stroke-making and Dravid’s decision to bat second on a sluggish wicket has worked again. For Punjab, they will definitely have to win their next four matches and along with that, they will also rely on other teams to help them go through.
Another resounding chase for Jaipur and they prove that even if two of the top 3 batters click, winning matches in any format becomes relatively easy. Even though Dravid fell early, Rahane and Watson held fort in the crucial period and made sure there were no hiccups in the chase. Cooper’s three wickets in the first innings was crucial but according to me, the bowling of Faulkner, Watson and Cooper from the period of 14 to 20 did the trick by choking up all the runs.
A half-century from Ajinkya Rahane and a couple of other confident knocks from Sanju Samson (47 not out) and Shane Watson (31) ensured that the Rajasthan Royals comprehensively beat the Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the PCA Stadium.
Doing so, the Royals skipped back to second place in the points table.
Punjab managed just 25 runs from the last four overs and it came back to bite them as Rajasthan cruised home with six balls to spare.
Punjab’s slow left-arm orthodox bowler Bipul Sharma, playing his first game today, bowled through the gates of the in-form Rajasthan captain Rahul Dravid in the very first over.
Ajinkya Rahane and Shane Watson then consolidated the innings with a classy 64-run stand, each going about their innings in their typical manner — Watson the aggressor and Rahane the anchor. Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla had to bowl a 117kmph nipper to castle Watson for 31.
In walked young Sanju Samson, who has impressed one and all with the talent oozing from his 18-year-old self. The duo took a couple of overs to settle into the new partnership, before finishing off the chase in style.
One particular shot that Samson played just shows how confident the youngster is on a world stage.
More to follow…
Brief scores:
Kings XI Punjab 145 for 6 in 20 overs (Shaun Marsh 77, Adam Gilchrist 42; Kevon Cooper 3 for 23) lost to
Rajasthan Royals 147 for 2 in 19 overs.
