Royals Beat Kings to Register 2nd Win

Posted by Aniket in News on 03 25th, 2010 | no responses

warne_big Last night, Rajasthan put up a good show to beat Punjab by 31 runs; an all-round performance helped them register the much needed morale-boosting win. The magician – Shane Warne marshaled his forces well and restricted Punjab from chasing 184 runs target. Punjab’s loss of last 8 wickets for 45 runs didn’t help their cause. With a win against Punjab; Rajasthan climbed to joint-fourth position on points table.

Punjab looked set to win their 2^nd game when the Sangakkara and Bisla provided a solid platform early in the inning. A Blistering inning of 35 from 18 balls by Bisla helped Punjab to race to 76-1 in 6 overs – the highest score in Powerplay. At the end of 11^th over Punjab needed 77 from 54 balls with 7 wickets in hand- which looked feasible in this format of game. But thereafter, some mindless batting spelt doom for the host. They lost four batsmen for 19 runs in 23 balls. Loss of quick wickets let left Mahela Jayawardene with the tail that did not promise to wag.

Earlier, Rajasthan posted a challenging total of 183 with Adam Voges providing the much-needed thrust in the death overs by scoring 45 of just 24 balls. After a swift start provided by South African Michael Lumb and Naman Ojha, Faiz Fazal anchored one end while Yusuf Pathan and Voges took turns to keep the run-rate over eight an over. In the end 183 proved to be mammoth target for out-of-form Punjab batting line-up.

After back to back wins it seems the injury hit Royals have found some kind of balance. They still lack experience but with Warne at helm on their day they can surprise any opposition.