A blistering knock from Shaun Marsh of 115 runs from just 69 balls with 7 towering sixes and 11 fours helped his team to beat the top team of IPL twenty20 by 41 runs. Along with Shaun Marsh his captain Yuvraj Singh for the first time in the tournament looks in great touch as he hit six sixes five in a row to scored quick fire 49 runs of just 16 balls to helped his team reach a massive total of 221/3 in their 20 overs after they were put into bat by the Rajasthan Royals. Shaun Marsh continued his good form as he put on 133 runs for the first wicket in just 13.4 overs with his partner James Hopes (51 runs of 35 balls). After the departure of Hopes it was Yuvraj and Marsh who played there shots all around the park to make sure there team reach a total which was beyond Rajasthan Royals reach. Today was one of the bad days for Royals bowlers as each one of them get hammered by the hands of Kings XI Punjab batsman. Although Rajasthan Royals were playing without their regular skipper Shane Warne and their in form players like G. Smith, S.Tanvir and S. Asnodhkar. Chasing this huge total Royals started quite surprisingly by sending Md. Kaif and Neeraj Patel to open the innings. But there tactics didn’t work when S.Sreesanth removed Md. Kaif in his 2nd over. Younis Khan playing his first game of tournament also didn’t lasted longer as he was bowled by I.Pathan swinging delivery. After wards it was always going to be huge ask for the batters to come since required run rate already climb to 13.50 runs per over due to lack of hitting in the power play overs. Although few batsman did manage to put pressure back on Kings XI while they were at the crease. The likes of Neeraj Patel (57 runs of 39 balls), Yusuf Pathan (39 runs of 15 balls), Kamran Akmal (24 runs of 8 balls) and Shane Watson (22 runs of 19 balls) they tried their best but no one able to get going till end to upset Kings XI Punjab. Now Rajasthan Royals will play Delhi Daredevils in the 1st semi final on Friday, a team which looks most dangerous of the lot qualified for the semifinals and Kings XI Punjab will play with Chennai Super Kings in the 2nd semi final of IPL on Saturday. S.Marsh was declared Man of the Match. Match Summary Kings XI Punjab– 221/3 in 20 Overs S.Marsh– 115 J.Hopes – 51 S.Watson– 4-0-40-1 Y.Pathan– 2-0-24-1 Rajasthan Royals– 180/7 in 20 Overs N.Patel– 57 Y.Pathan- 39 P.Chawla– 4-0-35-3 J.Hopes– 3-0-29-2 |
