IPL 2019: RR vs KXIP- Three reasons why KXIP won the match

Kings XI Punjab opened their account in IPL 2019 as they defeated Rajasthan Royals in a tightly contested game at Jaipur. The match was turning with every single over but at the end, the KXIP bowlers held their nerve as they won the game by 14 runs.

Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and asked KXIP to bat first. Batting first, KXIP lost KL Rahul early but then Chris Gayle put up a show as he smashed a 50 which helped KXIP reach the total of 4/184. Dhawal Kulkarni and Jofra Archer were the pick of the bowlers for Rajasthan Royals.

Chasing 185, RR started off brilliantly as Jos Buttler scored another half-century. It seemed as if he would take Rajasthan to victory but his dismissal changed the whole game. He was given out after a debatable 'Mankading' but after his wicket, most of the things went downhill for RR.

They lost wickets in clusters and as a result, fell short of the target by 14 runs. KXIP will be happy that the made a winnings start whereas RR will be disappointed that they lost a home game. So, let’s have a look at three reasons as to why Kings XI Punjab won the match.

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#1 Chris Gayle’s blistering knock

Chris Gayle was impressive again

Chris Gayle continued his great form as he smashed another half-century for Kings XI Punjab while opening the innings. Gayle took some time initially as he had lost his opening partner KL Rahul pretty early. After taking his time, he took on the bowlers and smashed them to all parts of the park.

He played a terrific innings as he made 79 runs off just 47 balls with eight fours and four sixes. Gayle was well supported by Sarfaraz Khan who played a good knock. Sarfaraz scored 46 runs off just 29 balls with six fours and one big hit. Both the batsmen increased the run-rate in the middle-overs and helped Kings XI Punjab reach a total of 4/184in the given 20 overs. The total turned out to be a bit too much for the Rajasthan Royals. Gayle will look to continue his great form in the upcoming matches.

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#2 Mankading of Jos Buttler

Chasing 185, Rajasthan Royals were off to a great start as the openers put up a fifty plus opening stand. Jos Buttler who had smashed five consecutive fifties in the last IPL continued from where he left last year as he smashed another fifty.

It seemed as if Buttler would once again remain unbeaten and win the game for Rajasthan Royals. But Ravichandran Ashwin had different plans. Butler who was at the non-striker’s end on 69 off 43 balls left his crease while Ashwin was bowling and Ashwin 'mankaded' Butler. Butler wasn’t happy with the decision as he wasn’t ready to leave.

At the end of the match, Buttler's wicket turned out to be the turning point of the match. He had the capability of winning the match on his own but the unfortunate incident turned the game. The debate around the dismissal won’t die anytime soon but for the time being, the dismissal has resulted in a win for KXIP and a loss for RR.

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#3 Sam Curran and Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s 17th and 18th overs

Mujeeb dismissed Stokes to derail the chase

The match was slightly in RR’s favor when 39 runs were required for the last four overs. Sam Curran who had leaked a lot of runs in his first three overs was asked to bowl the 17th over and it seemed as if he might concede more runs and tilt the game towards RR. But he bowled superbly as he gave just four runs and took the wickets of Steve Smith and Sanju Samson.

He dismissed both the set batsmen in one over and the equation changed to 35 required off three over with two new batsmen at the crease. Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s 18th over wasn’t a lot different as too picked up two wickets. He dismissed Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi and almost closed the game for RR. These two overs from Curran and Mujeeb respectively turned out to be really crucial as they decided the outcome of the match.

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