KL Rahul’s brilliant 95* went in vain for Kings XI Punjab as Rajasthan Royals put in a disciplined bowling performance to stay alive in the race for the playoffs with a 15-run win at the Sawai Mansingh stadium on Tuesday.
Rahul’s knock was the saving grace for Kings XI Punjab’s batting, which floundered on a pitch assisting spin. After restricting Royals to 158/8, KXIP started off in disastrous fashion when Chris Gayle (1) was stumped off K Gowtham. The Karnataka off-spinner followed up by bowling Ravichandran Ashwin (0) through the gate after the KXIP skipper at promoted himself.
Rahul, who struck a match-winning fifty against Royals in the previous game in Indore, hit 11 fours and two sixes in his 70-ball knock. He struck two fours off Ben Stokes in the fifth over but Kings XI Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals.
The batsman capitalised on some loose deliveries and reached his fifty by pulling medium pacer Anureet Singh to deep mid wicket. Although Rahul struck boundaries at will towards the end, lack of contribution from the top order made the chase difficult after Rajasthan Royals’ total was set up by Jos Buttler’s third consecutive fifty. HT
