Even though it was the Rajasthan Royals team which entered the semi-finals on the top position in the IPL league matches, today it would be the Kings XI Punjab team which would proceed to the semi-final knock out matches full of confidence and exuberance. The team won against the Rajasthan Royals by a good 41 runs and a very good batting performance was seen from Shaun Marsh.
The Rajasthan captain Shane Warne was resting today along with the best bowler in the IPL Sohail Tanvir. Shane Watson had taken over the captaincy for today. However, from the stands, there was nothing much Warne could do when he saw his team being toppled over by the Kings XI bowlers.
The Rajasthan team chose to field first after winning the toss. Marsh and Hopes opened the game and there was nothing, it seemed, that could stop these two men from performing. Marsh made a 69 ball 115 runs which seemed unstoppable. Also, 51 runs from Hopes were a great support to Marsh’s century. Also, Yuvraj found his rhythm well and made 49 runs off 16 balls. The team made 221 runs for the Rajasthan team to chase.
It was Patel and Kaif who opened game for the Royals. Kaif was dismissed on a single run whereas Patel stayed on to make 53 runs off 39 balls. Meanwhile, he saw the dismissal of Younis Khan on 3 runs too. Watson and Pathan had a small partnership in which their individual scores were 22 and 39 runs. Kamran Akmal scored 24 runs whereas Rawat made 23. The team could not score enough to win the match and ended up with 180 runs only. Without Warne and Tanvir, the team looked weak, insipid and confused.
Shaun Marsh was awarded the man of the match for his great batting performance.
