After a clinical performance by Rajasthan Royals' pacers, Ajinkya Rahane, debutant Sanju Samson and Shane Watson handled the pressure of a tricky low-scoring chase well to earn a six-wicket victory against the Kings XI Punjab at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Sunday night.
After deciding to bowl first, Rajasthan bowlers struck regular blows to the visiting team to bowl them out for a paltry 124.
Chasing 124, an early onslaught by Shane Watson set the tone for the Royals. Watson, who missed the previous game due to a niggle, replaced Kushal Perera for this match. Opening the innings with Rahane, Watson was especially harsh on compatriot Ryan Harris, milking him for five boundaries all over the park.
But, he over-did the aggression and paid price for it. In an attempt to hit a short delivery outside the off-stump over long-off, Watson mistimed the ball as it ended in the hands of Mandeep Singh at mid-off. He left the scene with an individual score of 32 of 19 deliveries, albeit not before giving his team a good start.
In the next three overs, Royals lost Rahul Dravid (9) and Stuart Binny (0). Both of them edged Praveen Kumar to wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist. Brad Hodge, along with Rahane brought some consistency to Royals innings but he, too, left at a crucial juncture. Hodge was trapped in front of the wicket for the score of 15. At that stage, Rajasthan were 79/4 and still requiring 46 runs in seven overs.
But, Rahane kept holding on to one end, picking ones and twos and odd boundaries to keep his team in the match. Along with debutant Sanju Viswanadh, who kept his nerve to play a supporting role with the opener with a score of 27, Rahane took his team past the target. The duo's unbroken 47-run partnership saw the team overcome the target with four balls to spare.
Earlier, a disciplined bowling performance by Royals bundled out Kings XI Punjab for 124 with seven balls to spare.
After off-spinner Ajit Chandila conceded only one run in the first over, S Sreesanth started on an erratic note, sending the ball outside the leg stump. But he came back strongly and dealt two big blows to the KXIP by removing visiting skipper Adam Gilchrist (0) and his opening partner Mandeep Singh (2) in the same over.
Gilchirst's his poor show with bat continued as the 41-year-old left-hander played a half-hearted backfoot drive up in the air but failed to clear the fielder at mid-off. His scores in the previous two matches were 15 and 9 respectively.
On the penultimate ball of the same over, Mandeep swung his bat to a length ball which was moving away from him only to see the ball landing in the hands of Stuart Binny at third-man.
Punjab, who were reeling at eight for the loss of two wickets, ran themselves into further trouble when young Manan Vohra was found short of his crease to a James Faulkner's direct throw from cover-point region. When Vohra's wicket reduced Kings XI Punjab to 10 for 3 in four overs, Rajasthan Royals must be patting their own backs for their decision to bowl first after winning the toss.
David Hussey and Gurkeerat Singh tried to put up some fight and forged a 35-run partnership but it wasn't enough to strengthen their position in the match. Gurkeerat was dismissed by Siddharth Trivedi as he edged for an easy catch to wicket-keeper Sanju Samson in the ninth over.
Next man in was Rajagopal Sathish and he too didn’t last long. He guided an away-swinging ball from Faulkner to Samson to join his teammates in the dug-out. Sathish scored 11.
The lone resistance came from Hussey, who scored a quickfire 41 of 31. He was settling beautifully for a bigger score with a six of Chandila over long-on and cutting and punching for four boundries. But, he perished while trying to drive a slower Trivedi delivery to Dravid, who was standing at mid-off. Dravid took the catch on second attempt to send Hussey back when the team scoreboard was reading 75 for 6.
All-rounder Azhar Mahmood was the second-highest scorer for the visitors contributing 23 runs. Mahmood was done in by Kevon Cooper, whose slower delivery foxed the batsman and went onto rattle his stumps.
The lower order tried their best to take the score to 124.
Among the Royals' bowlers, Sreesanth, Cooper, Trivedi, Faulkner picked two wickets each.
Brief Scores
Kings XI Punjab: 124 all out in 18.5 overs (David Hussey 41, Azhar Mahmood 23; S Sreesanth 2/20, Siddharth Trivedi 2/21) lost to Rajasthan Royals: 126/4 in 19.2 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 34 not out, Shane Watson 32, Sanju Samson 27 not out; Praveen Kumar 2/10) by six wickets.