1874dThe Report by Nikhil Kalro

Rahul aces chase to end Kings XI's losing run

Rajasthan Royals' hopes of a playoffs spot took a beating after their sixth defeat in nine games

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

KL Rahul
KL Rahul
84(54) 7x4 - 3x6
Control %80%
  • Productive Shot
  • cut shot
  • 19 runs
  • 3x4 - 1x6
10 6 12 14 17 7 7 11
JC Buttler
JC Buttler
51(39) 7x4 - 0x6
Control %79%
  • Productive Shot
  • pull
  • 13 runs
  • 3x4 - 0x6
0 0 5 12 10 8 3 13

Best performances - Bowlers

Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Mujeeb Ur Rahman
O4
M0
R27
W3
Eco6.75
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
AJ Tye
AJ Tye
O4
M0
R24
W2
Eco6.00
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF

Commentator: Alagappan Muthu

Mujeeb-ur-Rahman win the Man of the Match for his 3 for 27. Right, that's all we have for you from the double-header. Thanks for your company. We'll see you again when RCB take on Sunrisers tomorrow. If you need even more sporting action, in just a few moments, we'll have football's most heated fixture - Barcelona v Real Madrid - coming your way. Click here to watch El Clasico live and exclusive.

"We didn't play for some time, we didn't get points over the last two weeks and we were nervous. But thankfully we have a couple of points now," R Ashwin says. "We have some chinks in our armour. This win, we were tested. One of our batters stayed through to the end so pretty happy with that. Most of our wins have been set up by the bowlers and that's been pleasing. We know one department is firing on all cylinders. We can play Indian seamers and we can get a foreign batter. The thing is many of our Indian batsmen are inexperienced and they'll get better. I came in with an open mind as captain, I just wanted to gauge the team and get the best of them. Mostly a captain's job is setting the field and shuffling the bowlers and planning the right batting order. Bowlers will keep getting hit in T20s. The ones who get hit this game will help me win the next"

11.30 pm Rahul was 18 off 15 at the Powerplay. Then he plodded along in the middle overs, scoring only 24 off 24 balls. In the death, he walloped 42 off only 15 balls. And here he is speaking about the innings: "For me, this is the first knock that I would be really satisfied with because I won the game for the team. The way I started the IPL gave me a lot of confidence and I knew taking it to the next level is by wining the game for the team. So I just wanted to bat deep and win the game. 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. I trust my game that I can bat at a fair clip. I knew if I stayed till the end I can win the game. I just needed someone to stay with me. Karun did that. Stoinis did that, and ran well too. Very happy to see the batting group is helping. With the way I was batting, I thought that should have gone for four, but I did get lucky [about the catch that was not given]"

Rahul was on 41 when he cut the ball to backward point and Samson dived forward to take what most thought was a one-handed screamer. But the on-field officials took it to the third umpire with the soft signal not out and replays suggested the ball might possibly have grazed the turf before Samson plucked it up. Warne thought it was out. Rahane thought it was out. If Rahul had fallen then, Kings XI might not have made it

"It wasn't easy to bat on here, but we needed 170-175. We need to learn from this, it's our ninth game, the bowlers are doing well but the batsmen, including me, haven't performed well enough," says Ajinkya Rahane. "We are all professional cricketers. Most of the guys have gone through these situations and know how to comeback. Most of the guys, I think, have been unsure about going for the big shots. But if you have conviction, you will succeed. From our point of view, we thought the Rahul catch was clean. But the umpires thought it wasn't And that's the way it goes. We're still in the game, we need to win five out of five"

keptn: "I think this was a perfect example of the fact that converting 1s into 2s continuously makes a lot of difference" ---- 13 in the Kings XI innings, nine of them to Rahul. And all this on a tiny tiny ground!

Nanda: "After a dismal effort in fielding in the last few games costing them the matches, this one tried to turn the table around from Gayle pulling off a stunner, fielders working in pair at the boundary line to Samson almost completing an impossible catch. "

Woden: "RR vs KXIP again so soon: day after tomorrow. Archer vs Gayle battle again???"

Kamran : "Losing team captain nowadays "we need to win next 5." Seems like a sarcastic joke."

Ritvik: "Punjab may celebrate the win for now but they need to fix their batting issues. No one other than Gayle and Rahul have left any impact. Karun Nair has contributed little in almost all inning but that little won't help considering this league turning very competitive now. Only CSK is the team in which every batsmen have contributed big some time or the other. "

Piyush Jaiswal: "Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Suryakumar Yadav, Sanju Samson: What an IPL this is turning out to be for the Indian batsmen. The selectors would be licking their lips! Gone are the days of dependence on foreign imports to win games for the franchisees. "

18.4
4
Archer to Rahul, FOUR, that's the win! Low full toss and he smashes it through to the extra cover boundary and celebrates with a fist-pump! The Holkar Stadium is roaring. They've been chanting his name all through the death overs but now it's an incoherent scream of joy. The home team has won, and it's on the back of a sensational innings.

Arunabh : "This might be the 'coming of age' inning for Rahul. The amount of talent he possess he should be almost as good as Kohli for India. The only man after Kohli who can play all three formats with ease. "

18.3
2
Archer to Rahul, 2 runs, another two! Rahul expects the slower ball, he holds his shape, nudges it to the left of deep square leg and catches the fielder dozing
18.2
6
Archer to Rahul, SIX, what a strike! He stares down a 147 kph length ball and smacks it straight down the ground. Absolute class!
18.1
2
Archer to Rahul, 2 runs, targets the blockhole again, but Rahul clears his front leg and smears it to long-off. The crowd is going bonkers. They scream "Ra-hul! Ra-hul! Ra-hul!

Sai Charan: "When you have a really good yorker like Archer,Why try all other variations.Put long on, mid-wicket,fine leg and square leg in the deep bowl leg stump yorkers.If still batsmen scores.. then better luck next time! Seems simple to me." --- His first boundary in that over came off a yorker gone wrong. That's why he went for a bouncer. It's credit to Rahul for knowing the bowler would want to change his plans

END OF OVER:
18 | 15 Runs | PBKS: 141/4 (12 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 7.83, RRR: 6.00)

  • Marcus Stoinis23 (16b)
  • KL Rahul70 (50b)
  • Jaydev Unadkat4-0-26-0
  • Jofra Archer3-0-29-1

Unadkat leaks 15, following on Archer leaking 16 and Kings XI now only need 12 off 12

17.6
0
Unadkat to Stoinis, no run, slower ball on middle, Stoinis blocks
17.5
1
Unadkat to Rahul, 1 run, back of a length on off stump, Rahul comes out of his crease to try and nudge it through midwicket but ends up getting a leading edge through cover. Highest IPL score for Rahul

Kings XI 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st23CH GayleKL Rahul
2nd6MA AgarwalKL Rahul
3rd50KK NairKL Rahul
4th8KL RahulAR Patel
5th68MP StoinisKL Rahul