2188dThe Report by Varun Shetty

KL Rahul unbeaten, but Royals beat rest of Kings XI

Jos Buttler's 82 had set Rajasthan Royals up for a bigger total than 158, but a dry pitch became progressively slower and kept Kings XI Punjab from coming anywhere close

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

KL Rahul
KL Rahul
95(70) 11x4 - 2x6
Control %76%
  • Productive Shot
  • cover drive
  • 17 runs
  • 2x4 - 1x6
16 8 5 11 26 4 4 21
JC Buttler
JC Buttler
82(58) 9x4 - 1x6
Control %77%
  • Productive Shot
  • cover drive
  • 22 runs
  • 3x4 - 1x6
3 5 4 6 26 8 11 19

Best performances - Bowlers

AJ Tye
AJ Tye
O4
M0
R34
W4
Eco8.50
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W
K Gowtham
O3
M0
R12
W2
Eco4.00
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Scorer: Chandan Duorah | Commentator: Sreshth Shah

END OF OVER:
20 | 16 Runs 1 Wkt | PBKS: 143/7 (16 runs required, RR: 7.15)

  • KL Rahul95 (70b)
  • Andrew Tye1 (1b)
  • Jaydev Unadkat4-0-36-1
  • Jofra Archer4-0-32-1

11.51pm That's all from us at ESPNcricinfo. Rajasthan Royals moved to sixth, while Kings XI remain at third. The teams sandwiched between them, Kolkata Knight Riders (fourth) and Mumbai Indians (fifth) face off tomorrow. Here's the preview for that game, so that you're ready for Super Wednesday. Till then, it's time for me to say goodbye. Hope you enjoyed ESPNcricinfo's coverage of the IPL. See you tomorrow!

Naman: "First time heard Jos speaking and it looks like a nice bloke." -- May I direct you to this The Cricket Monthly piece, my friend? and then this one? He's one of my favourites.

11.45pmTime for the presentation. First up, the winning captain. And then the Man of the Match.

Jos Buttler, the Man of the Match. Says: "Opening is a nice change for me. Working wonders. It's hard to work out what a good score is batting first. After six overs we thought It'll be 180-200, but thinks slowed down. With KL Rahul batting well, there's no safe score. You're never quiet sure. With the field up, you have a lot of options to clear the infield, which is different to batting near the end, where you have to clear the outfield. We're still fighting, still in the tournament. Winning breeds confidence."

Ajinkya Rahane: "Really happy, the way we played. I thought 160 was good, but wicket was difficult. Thanks to Jos that we got a good start. Chasing 157, credit to our bowlers, especially in the powerplay. That stage was crucial, getting 2-3 initial wickets. And Ish Sodhi, fantastic. Our intention was to pick wickets, and keeping an attacking field will help us. Gowtham bowled really well, and then the Ashwin wicket as well. Overall, bowling unit was fantastic. It was important that we enjoy this victory and move forward. Unadkat is important, good to have a left-arm pacer. His cutters are useful in slower surfaces. Sometimes you may go four overs for 40, but good thing is he always thinks about wickets. Frankly speaking, I was confused at the toss, but I thought setting a score was important, because it was a do-or-die."

Gorango : "Losing team has both current purple & orange holders. Proves that winning is a team effort."

AJ: "Sodhi should be the MoM for his impressive figures. Never underrating Butler's innings though."

Bharat Anne: "@Divakar, Rahul surely wouldnt accept 3cr offer from RCB. Equation comes down to ABd or Rahul. Who would you choose?"

RAYAN: "Apart from Rahul, kings XI hit two boundaries only"

Sri: "@Divakar Shantha, It is not as simple as that and you know it. RCB had to manage the retaining budget and Kohli, AB were and are the better choices."

Anupam Raj: "Royals need to stop behaving like a child and learn to win by a bigger margin considering their nrr is worst. I have seen them taking things easy once their victory is almost confirmed. Don't want their coach to throw the cap on the ground in frustration."

11.33pm A clearly unsatisfied KL Rahul shakes hands with AJ Tye before meeting his opponents. Royals' win takes them to sixth. Rahul, meanwhile, scored 66.4% of his team's runs, the fourth-highest percentage in IPL history. The second-highest scorer for Kings XI was Stoinis (11), which shows exactly where the visitors lost the game. Each of Royals' bowlers chipped in: Gowtham, Archer, Unadkat, Stokes and Sodhi all playing their part. Don't forget Jos Buttler's innings of 82 though. How underrated was that knock? Reactions from the players now.

R Ashwin, the losing captain: "Maybe eight runs more than the par, but I thought it was a 160 wicket. We lost too many wickets earlier, but we could've bowled better in the Powerplay. As the ball was getting older, it got tougher to bat on. We were contemplating myself coming to bat at No. 3, just an experiment. We do have limitations, but we're trying to counter it with different combinations. Hopefully, it'll all settle through. Not worried, six wins in ten games, we'll take it."

K Gowtham: "The pressure is there bowling first over. But I've been doing it for my team, so the management is backing me. They believe in me. I love the pressure. The belief what the team is putting in me, I want to stand up. As a pro cricketer, you're expected to take the pressure. And then enjoy it. The Chris Gayle wicket wasn't planned, but the plan was to bowl wicket to wicket. The Ashwin wicket was my favourite."

Divakar Shantha: "RCB let go Rahul and kept Sarfaraz. Amazing."

Dikshit Chhabra: "I think kxip is just somewhat improved version of RR. Strong top order no middle order, good spinners, poor death bowlers. Most importantly, unpredictable!! "

Shilajit: "Rahul himself: Almost a century. Rest of KXIP: Almost a half century. Applause! :P"

19.6
4
Unadkat to Rahul, FOUR, Rahul ends on 95! An unbeaten, but valiant knock. It was short on off, and Rahul once again reverse paddles this over short third man. Ends the game with a 16-run over, but it was all too late. Rajasthan Royals win by 15 runs!
19.5
4
Unadkat to Rahul, FOUR, full outside off, and he shuffles across to the off side before reverse sweeping over short third man! Settles down on one knee, and sent over the infield
19.4
0
Unadkat to Rahul, no run, dropped by Unadkat! That's hurt his arm. It was the slower ball, on a good length, that he tried to muscle towards leg side. Took the toe end of the bat and came to Unadkat rather slowly, but he was expecting it to come quicker. Hits his wrist

Dhananjay Patel: "So Unadkat finding some kind of form after losing his place in national side. Would you rather take 11cr or place in national team? "

Abbas Khambati : "If IPL was played in early 2000s, most attracted team would surely had been Zimbabwe. How many of you remember Flower & Brent brothers, Johnson, Friend, Marillier, Carlisle, Ebrahim, Olonga, Nkala... Wow what a team that was! "

vignesh: ""Puts his ball in the pocket and folds both arms in the deep." cricinfo for a reason . u took me to visualize that and i could feel how good is that catch. way to go guys!!!!"

19.3
6
Unadkat to Rahul, SIX, full outside off, and Rahul backs away before thumping it over deep extra cover! His highest score in the IPL!
19.3
1nb
Unadkat to Rahul, 1 no ball, waist-high full toss way outside off, and the ball hits Rahul's shoulder. Tried to paddle it over his shoulder once again, but this time it didn't come off the bat. Ouch. Free hit as well

Vijay: "So the game of pulling the legs has begun.. bottom placed teams pulling the legs of top four, while they are trying to climb up."

19.2
1
Unadkat to Tye, 1 run, slower ball, full on off stump. Driven down the ground to long on

Kings XI 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st14CH GayleKL Rahul
2nd0R AshwinKL Rahul
3rd5KK NairKL Rahul
4th26KL RahulAD Nath
5th21MK TiwaryKL Rahul
6th15KL RahulAR Patel
7th46MP StoinisKL Rahul
8th16KL RahulAJ Tye