Thaindian News

Mohali (IANS), March 25 (IANS) Rajasthan Royals showed signs of resurgence as they outplayed Kings XI Punjab by 31 runs for their second straight victory in Indian Premier League at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium here Wednesday.
Riding high on all-round contributions, Rajasthan Royals piled up a respectable 183 for five in 20 overs with Faiz Fazal (45), Adam Voges (45 not out) and Michael Lumb (41) doing their bit with the bat. The bowlers then came up with a splendid show to bowl out the home team for 152 in 19.1 overs in batting friendly conditions.

Shaun Tait (3-22), Siddharth Trivedi (2-25), Yusuf Pathan (2-9) all chipped in with wickets while skipper Shane Warne dismissed Manvinder Bisla, who smacked 35 off 18 balls that included four fours and two sixes.

It was Rajasthan Royals’ second victory after beating Kolkata knight Riders in Ahmedabad in their last match. The champions of the inaugural IPL are now at fifth place with four points. Kings XI Punjab slumped to their fourth loss and are lagging at the bottom of the table.

Kings XI Punjab got off to a good start through skipper Kumara Sangakara (29) and Ravi Bopara (25) who smashed 41 runs in four overs.

Sangakkara became the victim of Shaun Tait when he went for an upper cut but was caught by Fazal at third man.

Bisla maintained the attacking streak and went after the bowling. Munaf Patel was at the receiving end of Bisla’s firepower as he went in for 18 runs in the 5th over.

Even Warne was not spared as Bisla showed fine technique to hit the veteran bowler for a four and a six. But the wily leg spinner had the last laugh in the next over as he lured Bisla with a tossed up delivery outside the off stump and the right handed batsmen hit straight to Michael Lumb at mid wicket boundary.

Kings XI Punjab were 85 for two and lost the plot from there on as Rajasthan Royals bowlers gave nothing away and tested the batsmen with occasional short deliveries. Trivedi bowled a fine economical spell that kept the pressure on the Punjab batamen. Warne marshaled his resources well and never allowed the batsmen to settle down.

Local boy Yuvraj Singh failed against and was caught by Faizal off Trivedi after making just 15 runs. Bopara (24) followed next playing a loose shot of Patel.

Mahela Jayawerdena was the lone ranger but he too could not find the boundaries and finally fell to Trivedi in the 19th over. The last five wickets of kings XI fell for just 37 runs.

For Rajasthan Royals Tait took three wickets while Pathan and Trivedi shared two wickets each.

Earlier, Lumb and Naman Ojha gave a convincing start to Rajasthan Royals innings and shared a first wicket stand of 35 runs. However Sreesanth chipped in at the right time and got the first breakthrough for Punjab in the form of Ojha in the fourth over.

Soon Lumb, after scoring 41 of 30 balls and hitting seven fours, followed Ojha to the pavilion.

Fazal and Yousuf Pathan forged a 51-run stand for the third wicket to take the score past the three-digit mark comfortably.

Pathan (28) was caught by Yuvraj Singh off the deliver of Shalabh Srivastava in the 13th over.

Fazal and Voges stitched a dazzling partnership of 60 runs, for the fourth wicket, of just 37-balls and put Rajasthan Royals in a comfortable position.

Fazal was run out by Piyush Chawla in the last over before Paras Dogra too fell short of his crease.

Voges, who did not find any difficult in scoring runs, remained unbeaten on 45 of just 24 balls. His innings was studded with five fours and one six.

Sreesanth, Srivastava and Chawla shared one wicket each for Kings XI Punjab.