Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 14 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday.
Rajasthan decided to bowl first, and got the early wicket of KL Rahul. Chris Gayle who opened the innings as well, initially played very cautiously and then opened up to help Kings XI post a challenging total of 184/4. Gayle and Sarfaraz added 84 runs for the third wicket and Kings XI the much-needed momentum. After Gayle’s dismissal, Sarfaraz took the onus on himself and took Kings XI past the 180-run mark.
Chasing the mountainous target Jos Buttler and skipper Ajinkya Rahane got Rajasthan off to a superb start, plenty of boundaries and sixes piled up a 64 run stand in the first six overs of powerplay. Buttler and Rahane shared 78 runs in eight overs for the opening stand before the Rajasthan skipper fell to Ravichandran Ashwin.
Buttler was going strong in the company of Sanju Samson (30) as they duo batted sensibly to keep Rajasthan in the hunt. Just when thing seemed bad for Kings XI, skipper Ashwin did the unthinkable. Buttler became the first victim of ‘Mankading’ in the history of IPL. A desperate Ashwin mankaded Buttler in the 13th over when Rajasthan were at 108/2.
Ashwin run out Butler pic.twitter.com/ixwL0F2RGB
— saqib amir (@AmirSaqib) March 26, 2019
His dismissal raised fresh debate over the spirit of the game as Ashwin didn’t give the Englishman a prior warning.
Buttler who was furious after the heated exchange with Ashwin left the field after the third umpire ruled him out. His dismissal brought the game back in favour of Kings XI as Steve Smith (20), Samson, Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathy departed quickly. Sam Curran, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Ankit Rajpoot scalped two wickets each to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 170 for nine after they got off to a flying start.