In last of the league matches that were played in the Indian Premier League, the top two teams came face to face with each other and the competition ensued. The Kings XI Punjab achieved a 41-run victory against the Rajasthan Royals and it would be the Punjab team which would enter the semi-finals with more confidence than their opponents. Marsh was awarded the man of the match for his performance.
The make-shift captain of the Rajasthan Royals was Shane Watson as Shane Warne took a rest today from this match and so did Sohail Tanvir who is being adjudged the best bowler in the tournament. However, without these two bowlers, the Rajasthan team looked very weak and the bowling attack looked highly incomplete against the full-bodied team of Kings XI Punjab.
Marsh gave such an attack for the team right in the start of the match that everyone in the Rajasthan team looked insipid and helpless. This was done by Marsh along with James Hopes who together with him got a very good run rate for the team. Hopes was the first wicket to be lost but that happened in the fourteenth over when he had scored 51 runs. Marsh was dismissed in the last over only after he had scored a good ton and above, 115 runs off 93 balls. Yuvraj too gave his share of 49 runs and team set up a target of 221 runs.
The best bowling team today suffered a lot due to the bowling attack of the opponents, the Punjab team. Chawla-led attack disrupted the whole team. Wickets seemed to be falling too soon. The highest score was made by Patel of 57 runs with Yousuf Pathan scoring 39 runs following second. Some players could just stick to the twenties and remaining could not score much. The team ended with a score of 180 runs and lost the match by a margin of 41 runs.
