By Alkesh Sharma, IANS,
Mohali : Kings XI Punjab thrashed Rajasthan Royals by 48 runs for their third consecutive win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium here Thursday.
Set a winning target of 196, Rajastha Royals managed to make only 147 for seven wickets and a win eluded them for the fourth match on the trot.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne had to pay the price for asking Kings XI Punjab to bat first on a placid track at the PCA. Riding on Man of the Match Shaun Marsh’s terrific knock of 71 off just 42 balls, Kings XI made a mammoth 195 for seven in 20 overs, the highest in the current edition.
Marsh, who hit three sixes and six fours, stitched a partnership of 70 runs for the third wicket with Dinesh Karthik, who scored 21 runs off 16 balls.
Kings XI skipper Adam Gilchrist and Paul Valthaty gave a dashing start to the hosts with an opening stand of 67 runs in just 26 balls. The home team raced on to get 52 runs off just 17 deliveries, also the fastest in the current season.
However, both Gilchrist (28 off 16 balls) and Valthaty (46 off 31 balls) were lucky as they were bowled in the first and the second overs but off no balls. Royal’s Siddharth Trivedi over-stepped as he got Gilchrist out in the first over and Shaun Tait followed him by bowling a no-ball on which he got Valthaty caught at third slip.
Royals, however, came back strongly in the last five overs in which they yielded only 26 runs for five wickets.
Australian pacers Shaun Tait (3-23) and Shane Watson (2-24) shared five wickets while Warne gave away 50 runs in four overs for one wicket. Trivedi was the most expensive bowler, giving away 59 runs in this quota of four overs.
Openers Swapnil Asnodkar (9) and Rahul Dravid (8) gave Rajasthan Royals a patchy start and both were back to the dugout in the third over with just 18 runs on the board.
The visitors failed to recover from the poor start. Watson (24) and Stuart Binny (30) tried to control the situation and stitched a 29-run partnership for the third wicket. Ashok Maneria (34 off 26) and Abhishek Raut (25 off 21) also played good innings but their efforts fell too short to assure their side a win.
Bhargav Bhatt and Praveen Kumar took two wickets each for Kings XI.
With this win, Kings XI have secured the third position in the IPL table with three wins in four matches for six points.
“We enjoyed our game and every player was playing his natural cricket. Winning with a big margin has given us a lot of confidence. There was a lot of swing and help from the Mohali pitch,” said Praveen Kumar after the match.