IPL 2011
Mohali: A day every team would like to forget, especially the Rajasthan Royals. Yes it was a day to forget for the Rajasthan team. A very poor performance led to the downfall of Rajasthan, as they were mauled by the Kings XI Punjab. Shane Warne won the toss and elected to field first, as they are a better team while chasing. But it did not happen this time around. The decision to bowl first proved fatal for the Royals.
The Royals were wary of the deadly combination of Adam Gilchrist and Paul Valthathy. The opening pair once again showed their worth of how dangerous they are batting together. But it could have been averted, if both of them were dismissed cheaply. Rajasthan succeeded in doing so, but only through non legal deliveries. Siddharth Trivedi got the better of Gilchrist, but only of a No ball. Later in the next over, Shaun Tait dismissed the dangerous Valthathy by a beauty, but again it was declared as a No Ball. The opening duo made the Royals pay for it heavily. They went after the bowling and thrashed them all over the park. You cannot bowl in such a manner especially when Gilchrist and Valthathy are present at the crease.
It was time when both the openers started giving a harsh treatment to the bowlers. The young Indian sensation, Paul Valthathy, once again proved fatal for the opposition, smashing Trivedi for more than 20 runs in a single over. The score crossed the 50 run mark at the end of the 3rd over. Royals saw the match slipping away from them.
Shane Watson was brought into the attack, which proved a intelligent movie from the Captain, as he was able to get the better of Adam Gilchrist. But there was no stopping to Valthathy as he was brutal throughout this innings. Shawn Marsh stepped in, and soon started scoring at a brisk rate. Warne brought himself to attack and succeeded in dismissing Valthathy. But the damage had already been done.
Royals must have believed that they can bounce back in the game. But again, every planning of the Royals proved wrong. Soon after the dismissal of Valthathy, Shawn Marsh took over and scored at a very brisk rate scoring a quick fire 71 of 42 balls before falling to Watson. But the damage was irreparable. Karthik played a cameo of 21 before falling to Tait. The Royals did come back strong in the last 5 over’s, bowling good slower deliveries, mixing up and bowling at the right area, which should have been done earlier. The KingsXI Punjab posted a massive total of 195-7 in their 20 overs. The Royals had a huge mountain to climb.
It was Royals turn to showcase a fighting performance. Asnodkar and Dravid started off the innings. Asnodkar the star performer for Rajasthan in the first season was expected to fire and so was The Wall, Dravid. But the Royals were just outplayed in each department. Dravid was cleaned up by a beauty from Ryan Harris. Soon Asnodkar followed, this time from a lovely Yorker from Praveen Kumar. Shane Watson and Stuart Binny were at the crease then. Both are known to be hard hitters of the ball. Both played sensible cricket and tried to balance the innings. Watson, one of the most dangerous batsmen in this format looked promising, but soon was dismissed by Praveen Kumar by a lovely slower delivery. Expectation from Ross Taylor also proved worthless as he was dismissed by Piyush Chawla for a duck. From then the Royals never looked like getting even close to the total. They managed to score 147-7 in their 20 over’s, handing over a 48 runs defeat to the KingsXI side, the biggest defeat margin in this year’s IPL.
This win means, the Punjab team has now registered three wins in a row. The only thing KingsXI Punjab lost was the toss. On the other hand the Royals now need to think and plan a lot before their next game and need to up the ante.
Tags: Cricket, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2011, IPL 4, Kings XI Punjab, KXIP, Mohali, Paul Valthathy, PCA, Rajasthan Royals, RR
