KL Rahul’s brilliance (84* from 54) after young off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s exploits with the ball guided Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable six-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals at Indore on Sunday. The result meant that Punjab, who had lost their last two games, jumped to third place while Rajasthan continued to languish at the bottom.
Chasing a modest 153 run target, Rahul anchored the Punjab innings from start to finish. His 84 comprised of seven boundaries and three sixes as his side romped home with eight balls to spare.
Punjab’s chase, however, started on a bad note as they lost dangerous Chris Gayle (8) and Mayank Agarwal (2) in successive overs. While Gayle cut Jofra Archer straight to Sanju Samson at point in the fourth over, Agarwal pulled a short delivery from Ben Stokes to Rahul Tripathi at long leg.
Then, Rahul and Karun Nair (31) shared a 50-run stand for the third wicket from 37 balls to stabilise Punjab’s chase before the latter dragged Anureet Singh’s short delivery back onto his stumps. Axar Patel (4) too didn’t last long as he holed out in the deep to Krishnappa Gowtham.
But Rahul went about his business calmly and guided Kings XI’s chase by holding fort at one end. The Karnataka opener did not attempt any extravagant shots. After the game he said, “ I always try to back my shots, never try to slog. I’ve learned that doesn’t suit me and I know if I can keep my shape, I can succeed even in T20s.”
Rahul brought up his fifty in the 17th over with an upper cut six off Jofra Archer to bring down the equation to 27 runs off 18 balls. Rahul and Marcus Stoinis (23*) shared an unbeaten 68 run-stand for the fifth wicket to comfortably take Punjab to victory.
After Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin had opted to field, Mujeeb led an impressive bowling display to restrict struggling Rajasthan to a below-par 152/9. Mujeeb (3/27) struck in the first two deliveries of the 15th over, first removing dangerous-looking Buttler (51) and Archer from back-to-back deliveries. Barring Buttler, none of the Rajasthan batsmen settled in and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Besides Mujeeb, Andrew Tye (2/24), Axar Patel (1/21), Ashwin (1/30) and Ankit Rajpoot (1/37) were the other wicket-takers for Punjab. The Afghanistan off-spinner also accounted for dangerous Ben Stokes, (12) who was brilliantly caught by a relay from Mayank Agarwal and Manoj Tiwary at the long-off boundary.
Rajasthan got off to a torrid start after they lost opener D’Arcy Short (2) and skipper Ajinkya Rahane (5) during the powerplay overs before Buttler and Sanju Samson (28) stitched 49 runs for the third wicket. Rajasthan need to win each of their last five games to stand a chance of sneaking into the playoffs.
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