Kings XI Punjab Beat http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rajasthan-c837 Royals by 48 runs in IPL-4: Match Recap and Analysis
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Punjab-c833 Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali,
Chandigarh yesterday.
After winning the toss, Shane Warne, the captain of the Rajasthan Royals, chose to field first. This was a decision which cost him dearly as his side learned that giving Gilchrist and company a first shot at the bat was a bad move.
The Punjab openers, Gilly and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Paul-Valthaty-c2170, initiated an onslaught right from the first over as both batsmen played without fear. It was the third over of the innings which really witnessed the wrath of the Kings XI as Valthaty clobbered Rajasthan’s strike
bowler http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Siddharth-Trivedi-c2526 for 25 runs.
With no end to the opening partnership, it then took two Aussies to dismiss the veteran Gilchrist as the former Australian opener was caught by Shaun Tait at mid-on, off a delivery by Shane Watson as the batsman tried to hit another shot out of the park.
Gilly played an innings of 28 runs off 16 deliveries which included four boundaries and a six. At the end of the fifth over Punjab were 67/1.
Tait was involved in another wicket as he took the catch of Valthaty at long-off from a delivery by skipper Shane Warne. It was wicket number 50 for Warne in the IPL. Valthaty scored 46 runs off 31 deliveries. His innings included four boundaries and three
sixes.
It was then the 27-year old Shaun Marsh and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dinesh-c54134 Karthik who formed a daunting partnership against Rajasthan. Just when the two were looking dangerous, Tait crashed the party by getting Karthik to edge a delivery which was cleanly picked by the wicketkeeper
Dilshan Harendra Yagnik. The RR batsman scored 21 runs off 16 deliveries.
After the departure of Karthik it was Shaun Marsh who kept calm and managed to steer the team to a respectable total. He played every bowler on merit and displayed some clean hitting skills without giving the opposition too many chances to penetrate his
defences.
He lost his wicket on the first delivery of the penultimate over bowled by Watson as he got a top-edge while trying to pull a delivery. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 made the call and took the catch off his own bowling. Marsh scored 71 runs off 42 balls. His innings included six
boundaries and three sixes. In the end Punjab managed to post a total of 195 runs on the board which was by all means a formidable tally for any team to chase.
Coming on to bat, Rajasthan knew that if they wanted to have any chance of winning this game, they needed to wreak havoc on the Punjab bowling brigade right from the start. However, it went the other way round, as the Punjab bowlers dismantled the opening
partnership quickly. On the last delivery of the second over, Rayan Harris shattered the stumps of opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rahul-c83321 Dravid who completely failed to dig a genuine yorker. Dravid scored just eight runs off seven deliveries.
Six deliveries later, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Praveen-Kumar-c82600. He had scored just a run a ball off nine deliveries.
Shane Watson and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Piyush-c82317 Chawla. The RR
batsman scored 24 runs off 16 deliveries.
Ross http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashok-c46345 Menaria then came on to support Binny.
However, on the last delivery of the 13th over Binny lost his nerve and attempted to go for a big hit against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ryan-McLaren-c87323 but the shot failed to cross the boundary line and ended up straight in the hands of Chawala at long-on. He scored 30 runs
off 24 deliveries.
In the eighteenth over Menaria was removed by Bhargav Bhat as he gave a catch to Marsh at long-on. In the end the Rajasthan Royals crumbled after making 147 runs.
With this victory the Preity Zinta owned Kings XI Punjab have shown that this year they are on a rampage of victories and stopping them will be easier said than done. The inclusion of Gilly has worked wonders for the team and the whole squad is responding
well under his captaincy. If they keep their winning ways, there is a strong chance that they might win the league title this year.
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