Rahul sparkles as Kings XI sail past Rajasthan Royals
indore — A cameo unbeaten knock of 84 runs off 54 balls by opener KL Rahul propelled Kings XI to a convincing six wickets victory over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League match on Sunday.
The win helped Kings XI move to the third position with 12 points from nine matches.
Chasing a modest target of 153 runs, Rahul and Marcus Stonis (23 not out) put on a 68-run partnership to see Kings XI home with eight balls to spare. Earlier, teenaged off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman continued his impressive performance as his three wickets helped Kings XI Punjab restrict Rajasthan Royals to 152/9.
After a 49-run third-wicket stand between Jos Buttler (51) and Sanju Samson (28), Mujeeb picked the Englishman, his compatriot Ben Stokes (12) and Jofra Archer (0) in his second two-over spell to derail the Rajasthan innings.
Mujeeb, 17, has now taken 12 wickets and is currently fifth in the list of most wicket-takers.
The teenager not only took wickets but also proved to be economical right from his first two-over spell which put pressure on the Rajasthan top-order at the Holkar Cricket Stadium.
After being asked to bat, Rajasthan rode on Buttler to get their runs, even if fellow opener D’Arcy Short (2) and Ajinkya Rahane (5) were dismissed with 35 on board for the western outfit in four overs.
While captain and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin accounted for Short -- who was caught by Andrew Tye at midwicket — Rahane’s cut off a delivery from left-arm spinner Axar Patel saw Chris Gayle dive forward to pull off a stunning catch.
Then Buttler and Samson put together an important partnership to lay a foundation for the flourish in the final 10 overs. But when all seemed to be going good, Samson pulled medium pacer Tye straight into the hands of Karun Nair in the fifth ball of the 11th over.
Following the wicket, Rajasthan lost track as Mujeeb removed Stokes (12) and Buttler in the 13th and 15th overs respectively. Mujeeb struck for the second time in the 15th over to get rid of Jofra Archer (0) to reduce the visitors to 106/6.
Stokes was dismissed by a relay catch between Mayank Aggarwal and Manoj Tiwary at the long off, while Lokesh Rahul grabbed an outside edge of Buttler. Archer was foxed by a googly before the delivery rattled the stumps as Rajasthan innings was derailed.
In the following over, paceman Ankit Rajpoot dismissed K. Gowtham (5), while Tye got rid of Rahul Tripathi (11) in the first delivery of the 18th over, with Rajasthan at 129/8. Later, Shreyas Gopal scored a brisk 24 off 16 deliveries to take Rajasthan cross the 150-run