IPL Cricket: Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab
Cape Town: A thrilling encounter is on the cards with the tactful Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals challenging win-hungry Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.
The Rajasthan Royals pulled off a win via ‘Super Over’ in a nerve-wrecking tie against the Kolkata Knight Riders, putting behind their two successive losses to emphasise that they are in a serious business to defend their title in the eight-team tournament.
Warne fulfilled his promise to hit back strongly after it had collapsed to the lowest IPL total of 58 runs in their opening match while their second match had been washed off by rains.
The Jaipur brigade would now try their best to build on their success and improve the run rate to fire up their title defence instead of slipping below the fourth position from here on.
With all-rounder Yousuf Pathan coming of age and rookie pacer Kamran Khan living up to Warne’s expectation, Rajasthan have also showed they were not anymore missing services of their inaugural edition heroes Shane Watson and Sohail Tanvir, who are missing the tournament for various reasons.
Kings XI Punjab, also with just a single win in their pocket, would require to be extra cautious as they bump into Rajasthan Royals, who would be again waiting to surprise his opposition by flinging yet another surprise after baffling Kolkata Knight Riders in their previous match.
Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh, on his part, would rely on another stint of apt execution of plan, especially by his bowlers to tame the Rajasthan Royals by causing their yet another batting fiasco.
“We experimented with the bowling, shuffled it around and it worked in the end. We bowled and batted well and stuck to our plans. I’m happy with the result,” Yuvraj had said after their seven-wicket win over Royal challengers Bangalore on Friday.
Riding on the heroics of their new revelations young England batsman Ravi Bopara, who hammered a match winning knock of 85 runs, and bowler Yusuf Abdullah, the Preity Zinta-owned team would hope to climb the rungs on team standing table, where they are languishing at lowly sixth among eight contenders.
Besides, Yuvraj Singh and Co would also be praying that rain may not play a spoilsport as they bid to continue with their winning ways.
Gayle Rains On Kings XI Parade
Chris Gayle played a belligerent innings as the Kolkata Knight Riders secured an 11-run win on the Duckworth/Lewis method over Kings XI Punjab in a rain-affected Indian Premier League match at Kingsmead, Durban today.
Gayle, dropped on two and again on 32, briefly dispersed gloomy weather conditions with an unbeaten 44 off only 26 deliveries before rain had the final say.
The Kings XI had made 158 for six and Kolkata had reached 79 for one in 9.2 overs when their innings ended prematurely.
Gayle was dropped on two by Tarun Goel off Yusuf Abdulla in only the second over and again by wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara off Piyush Chawla when on 32.
By the time the rain came down, Gayle had smashed four sixes and two boundaries while putting on 57 for the opening wicket with skipper Brendon McCullum (21).
The Knight Riders also had their moments with the ball and began ominously, with Ishant Sharma turning in a miserly first over – he conceded only one run – under overcast skies.
Ashok Dinda followed up with four dot balls in his first over before Ravi Bopara broke the shackles with consecutive boundaries off the last two deliveries.
Ishant then got rid of the dangerous Goel in his second over, provoking the opener into edging to Gayle at slip, but Goel’s replacement, Irfan Pathan injected some momentum into Kings XI’s batting by smashing 32 off only 17 deliveries.
Former captain Sourav Ganguly swung momentum back Kolkata’s way with two strikes in his first over. Ganguly got rid of Pathan and then snared Bopara (15) two deliveries later.
Skipper Yuvraj Singh (38) then joined Sangakkara (26) and the two began to rebuild Kings XI’s innings.
An extended strategy break due to a touch of rain worked in favour of the Kings XI this time as Yuvraj and Sangakkara began to hit out.
Ganguly, who had conceded only four runs in his first two overs, leaked 14 in his third and Gayle, struggling with a wet ball, conceded just as many in his only over.
Yuvraj and Sangakkara put on 56 runs for the fourth wicket before Sangakkara ran himself out.
A fluent cameo from Mahela Jayawardene (31 not out) got the Kings XI to a competitive total but their depleted bowling attack struggled to rein in Gayle.
IPL Cricket: Kings XI Punjab
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The Kings XI Punjab finished second on the log in 2008, but then went on to loose in the knockouts and lost in the semifinals to the Super Kings. Lead by Yuvraj Singh, who was one of the standout players in the 2008 IPL. It will be interesting to see of this team goes without the services from any South African players. |
SA players: None
Other star players: Yuvraj Singh, Mahela Jayawardene, Simon Katich, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Irfan Pathan, Kumar Sangakkara, Jerome Taylor
Coach: Tom Moody
Franchise fee: $76 million
Most expensive player: Yuvraj Singh – $1,063,750
Full list of players in the franchise:
Yuvraj Singh, Ajitesh Argal, Amanpreet Singh, Brett Lee, Burt Cockley, Irfan Pathan, James Hopes, Jerome Taylor, Karan Goel, Kumar Sangakkara, Luke Pomersbach, Mahela Jayawardene, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ranadeb Bose, Ravi Bopara, Ravikant shukla, Ryan Ninan, S. Sreesanth, Shaun Marsh, Simon Katich, Sunny Sohal, Tanmay Srivastava, Taruwar Kohli, Uday Kaul, Vikramjeet Malik, VRV Singh, Wilkin Mota, Yash Gandhi, Tom Moody (AUS) (Coach)
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