The Monday night belonged to the duo of Shane Warne and Shane Watson as together they shone bright to guide Rajasthan Royals team romp home by registering a comfortable six-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab at its home ground in the league match of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Chasing the target of 167 set by Kings XI Punjab, who had tasted their successive defeat, Royals had a poor start with once again their opening pair being unable to give them a start they needed.
But it was a superb display by Watson and Royals captain and coach Warne that put the visitors on the back foot.
First it was Shane Warne (3/19) who picked up three crucial wickets to nail down Punjab team to a total of 166 and later it was Shane Watson’s 49-ball unbeaten 76, which included five boundaries and equal number of sixes, that closed the doors for the Punjab team.
Watson stitched a useful 51-run stand with fellow Australian Darren Lehmann before guiding his team to a pounding win alongwith Ravindra Jadeja who remained unbeaten on 36.
Earlier, Royals captain Shane Warne led from the front and put a reign on a strokeful half century by his counterpart Yuvraj Singh (57) who won the toss and decided to bat first.
The visitors would have been bundled up early had Yuvraj not been dropped twice when he was on 15 and 27. He was dropped first time off Warne and the second off Siddharth Trivedi.
Warne, however, came back strongly to remove Yuvraj holding on nice return catch. Yuvraj struck six fours and three huge sixes in his 34-ball quick-fire innings.
Warne also put brakes on Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara's explosive cameo of 20 made from eight balls and included three fours and one six, besides getting rid of opener James Hopes (16).
SCOREBOARD
Kings XI Punjab Karan Goel b Munaf 26, J. Hopes lbw b Warne 16, K. Sangakkara c & b Warne 20, M. Jayawardene st. Akmal b Salunkhe 2, Yuvraj lbw b Warne 57, I. Pathan b Trivedi 12, S. Sohail (run out) 4, B. Lee c Akmal b Trivedi 0, P. Chawla (not out) 24, W. Mota (not out) 1; Extras (lb-1, w-2, nb-1): 4
Total: 166 for eight wickets in 20 overs Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-56, 3-64, 4-73, 5-136, 6-136, 7-136, 8-149. Rajasthan Royals Bowling: Munaf 4-0-36-1, Watson 4-0-39-0, Trivedi 4-0-25-2, Warne 4-0-19-3, Salunkhe 2-0-21-1, Pankaj Singh 1-0-12-0, Y. Pathan 1-0-13-0.
Rajasthan Royals M. Kaif c Sangakkara b Sreesanth 5, K. Akmal c Chawla b Hopes 15, Y. Pathan c & b Lee 7, S. Watson (not out) 76, D. Lehmann lbw b I. Pathan 17, R. Jadeja (not out) 36; Extras (lb-2, nb-4, w-6): 12
Total: 168 for four wickets in 18.1 overs Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-19, 3-48, 4-99. Kings XI Punjab Bowling: Lee 4- 0-35-1, Sreesanth 3.1-0-38-1, Hopes 4-0-33-1, I. Pathan 4-0-21-1, Chawla 2-0-27-0, Mota 1-0-12-0.
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