Hello and welcome to Sportstar's live coverage of tonight's Indian Premier League match between the Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals live score at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.
- Outstanding bowling by Shami! He bowls four balls in the blockhole, Binny is able to find a boundary off the last ball, but it is not enough. Punjab wins by 12 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin shuffled his bowlers really well and led from the front with two big wickets of Rahul Tripathi and Sanju Samson. Mohammed Shami finished with 2-46 in his 4 overs which does not explain the full story.
- OUT! A good-length ball on the off-stump by Shami and Shreyas Gopal hits it over to mid-off and caught by Mayank Agarwal. RR needs 23 off 4 balls.
- BINNY GOES BOOM! Stuart Binny hits two sixes off Arshdeep's over. RR needs 23 off the final over. If someone can do it for Rajasthan now, it is Binny.
- RAHANE GONE! Ajinkya Rahane tries to hit Arshdeep Singh towards fine-leg but the ball takes a top-edge. Mohammad Shami takes a superb running catch behind the keeper. RR needs 35 in 9 balls.
- Binny on Fire! Stuart Binny hits a four and a six on arrival and Shami bowls a wide ball. RR needs 38 off 13 balls.
- ARCHER DEPARTS! Jofra Archer, who has been superb with the ball earlier, is unable to whip up magic with the bat as he hits Mohammed Shami towards mid-wicket. K.L. Rahul takes a low catch on the run. RR 133/5 in 17.1 Overs.
- ANOTHER ONE! New batsman Ashton Turner is unable to hit Murugan Ashwin along with the turn and holes it out to Miller fielding at mid-off. Rajasthan needs 50 off the final 3 overs. RR 133/4 in 17 Overs.
- GONE! Tripathi tries to hit it through mid-off and is caught by Mayank Agarwal in the deep. Ashwin is pumped up. RR 127/3 in 16 Overs.
- FIFTY FOR TRIPATHI! Rahul Tripathi survives a stumping scare off Ashwin's bowling but reaches his half-century in 43 balls to get his first fifty of this season.
- Ashwin throws the ball to part-timer Mandeep Singh with the required rate climbing up to 10.4. He does a good job by giving away 7 runs off the 14th over.
- OUT! Sanju Samson tries to sweep Ravichandran Ashwin's carromball, the ball kept low and Samson misses it completely. Punjab has the breakthrough it needed. Ajinkya Rahane walks in to the middle. RR 98/2 in 12 Overs.
- Rajasthan is cruising at the moment. Tripathi, alongside Sanju Samson, have kept the run rate at 8.4. RR 93/1 in 11 Overs.
- Mujeeb Ur Rahman goes off the pitch after he seems to have injured his shoulder while trying to save a boundary in Ravichandran Ashwin's bowling.
- Rahul Tripathi takes charge of the chase after Rajasthan loses Buttler. He scores three boundaries and hit the ball behidnd the wicket to steal twos and threes. RR 73/1 in 8 Overs.
- Subpar! Rahul Tripathi nudges the ball towards short-third man. Mohammed Shami, lets the ball pass through his hands and runaway for a four. Very poor effort from the Indian pacer. RR 51/1 in 5 Overs
- BUTTLER GONE! Arshdeep rolls his fingers over the ball and lands it wide off Buttler's off-stump. The England batsman goes after the ball and skies it towards fine leg. Wicket-keeper Nicholas Pooran tracks the ball all the way and takes a brilliant catch. What a breakthrough for Punjab. RR 38/1 in 4.1 Overs.
- BOOM! It is very hard to take on Jos Buttler when he is on song. He dispatches Mujeeb Ur Rahman for a huge six over long-on. In the next over, he dances down the track to smack Arshdeep Singh for a six over the mid-wicket. He hits the young pacer for a four through point in the same over. RR 28/0 in 3 Overs.
- Arshdeep Singh, the 20-year old left-arm pacer, opens the bowling for Punjab. He goes up against Jos Buttler and Rahul Tripathi. The powerplay looks like a slow start to the chase as the batsman are unable to clear a slow infield. RR 4/0 in 1 Over.
Kings XI Punjab Innings
- Punjab scores 55 runs between overs 14-17 and Ravichandran Ashwin's cameo of 18 runs off the last five balls, compensated for the home team's slow start and collapse at the end.
- ASHWIN BLITZ! The Punjab skipper, who has proven himself as a handy batsman, makes a whirlwind cameo smashing 18 runs off the final 5 balls of the innings. KXIP 182/6 in 20 Overs.
- MILLER DIMISSED! Punjab fumbles at the toe end of the innings. Miller tries to go big on the leg-side but is caught by Jos Buttler at the long-off boundary.
- ARCHER HAS THIRD! A slower ball, short of length manages to deceive Mandeep Singh who drags it on to his leg-stump. The Englishman has been the pick of the Rajasthan bowlers with figures of 4-0-15-3. KXIP 164/5 in 19 Overs.
- ARCHER STRIKES! Pooran is unable to get under Archer's bouncer which is directed at his body. Rahane at extra cover takes a good catch. KXIP 164/4 in 18.5 Overs.
- Nicholas Pooran is the new batsman for Punjab. Miller hits the final ball of Unadkat's over for a boundary over the extra-cover.
- RAHUL GONE! K.L. Rahul tries to slice Jayadev Undakat through backward point but Jofra Archer latches on to a easy catch bringing an end to the opener's innings of 52 off 47 balls. KXIP 152/3 in 17.1 Overs.
- Three byes! Jofra Archer sends David Miller's off-stump but the umpire signals a no-ball. The batsmen run three runs by the time the ball is thrown back at the keeper. Rahul brings up his fifty in 45 balls with a four through the covers.
- Shreyas Gopal halts the run-flow for an over as he concedes just four singles in the 16th over.
- ANOTHER MASSIVE OVER! Ajinkya Rahane surprisingly gives the ball to Jayadev Unadkat, but the Saurashtra bowler is hit for a two sixes and a boundary. 20 off the over. KXIP 136/2 in 15 Overs.
- BIG OVER! K.L. Rahul decides to free his arms, he steps across the off-stump to thump Ish Sodhi's short-pitch for a huge six over the square-leg boundary. The Kiwi spinner is hit for another massive six by David Miller pressurizing him to bowl a wide ball. The pair runs two off the final ball. 19 off the over. KXIP 116/2
- Time-Out! Miller and Rahul have managed to keep the scoreboard ticking by running singles and scoring boundaries whenever possible. The pair has got the scoring rate up to 7.5 runs per over. KXIP 97/2 in 13 Overs.
- Jayadev Unadkat is brought back by Rahane after conceding 12 runs in his first over. Rahul hits his first boundary after 27 balls after managing to just clear the fielder at mid-off. KXIP 89/2 in 12 Overs.
- OUT! It's a top-spinner from Ish Sodhi and is in the slot for the batsman. Mayank Agarwal heaves towards leg-side but is unable to get the distance. Jofra Archer keeps his eye on the ball at long-on and takes an excellent catch near the boundary. David Miller is the next man in. KXIP 67/2 in 8.2 Overs
- Time-Out! K.L. Rahul has been unusually quiet in his approach today. The Karnataka batsman has scored 6 off 16 balls so far in this innings. He has let his other batting partners hog the strike. Mayank Agarwal hits Shreyas Gopal for a four and a six. KXIP 63/1 in 8 Overs
- SIX! Ish Sodhi is in the attack and Mayank Agarwal launches him for a six straight down the ground. He takes a single off the next ball to bring up Punjab's fifty. KXIP 50/1 in 7 Overs.
- GAYLE OUT! Jofra Archer bowls one back of the length and Gayle is beaten by the change of pace. He edges it for an easy catch to Sanju Samson. KXIP 38/1 in 5.4 Overs.
- Jofra Archer into the attack now! Jayadev Unadkat has been expensive with his first over and it will be interesting to see how the Englishman uses his extra pace against Gayle. He gives away just two runs off his first over. KXIP 22/0 in 4 overs.
- Sanju Samson shows quick reflexes to stop the ball that took a thick edge off Gayle and seemed to runaway to the third man boundary.
- SIX! Chris Gayle manages to just clear the ropes twice in the second over bowled by Jayadev Unadkat. The first one over deep fine-leg misses the reach of Jofra Archer while the second maximum goes over the mid-wicket. KXIP 14/0 in 2 overs.
- Punjab's opening pair Chris Gayle and K.L. Rahul walk to the pitch. Both of them are also among the top-three run scorers. Dhawal Kulkarni opens the innings with a dot ball.
Playing XIs
JUST IN: Moises Henriques is seen limping off the ground with the help of the support staff. The Aussie might not make it to Punjab's starting XI.
TOSS UPDATE: Rahane wins the toss, Rajasthan Royals will bowl.
TEAM UPDATE: Left-arm medium pacer Arshdeep Singh and Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques are most likely to make their debuts for Kings XI Punjab.
Though bowling is a worry for today's host, Kings XI Punjab batsmen Chris Gayle (322) and K.L. Rahul (335) are in the top-3 run getters in this years IPL behind Sunrisers Hyderabad's David Warner (400).
Kings XI Punjab's bowling coach Ryan Harris is not at all pleased with the bowling performance of the team. Punjab will also look to improve its field placements after RCB's Marcus Stoinis and AB de Villiers exploited the poor fielding plan in the previous match. | Ryan Harris: Kings XI's bowling plans were 'a long way off'
In the backdrop of the 'Mankading' episode, involving Jos Buttler and R. Ashwin at Jaipur, Rajasthan can be expected to get back hard at the host to avenge the defeat. Here's Rakesh Rao's preview.
A return-clash under the shadow of 'Mankading'
Jos Buttler needs no reminding of his unfinished business with R. Ashwin on Tuesday when
Rajasthan Royals faces
Kings XI Punjab.
In the backdrop of the 'Mankading' episode, involving the two cricketers at Jaipur where the teams met in their campaign-opener, Rajasthan can be expected to get back hard at the host to avenge the defeat.
That evening, Buttler was in full flow before the unusual mode of dismissal became the talking-point of the cricketing world. Since then, Ashwin, too, must be waiting to scalp Buttler, without offering an explanation!
You can follow our 2019 IPL complete coverage here.
Together, Punjab and Rajasthan Royals are worried at the half-way stage of the Indian Premier League, languishing in the bottom-half of the points table.
By comparison, Punjab is better placed but that is far from a consolation. The team has lost the last two encounters, mainly due to the bowlers not getting the act right even when defending fairly tall totals. Worse, a defeat on Tuesday will leave Punjab as the only team to have lost to the seventh and eighth placed teams on the point-table.
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Rajasthan, struggling to perform to its potential, just about managed to cross the line against Mumbai over the weekend. The team, more often than not, has tossed away dominant positions this season. Against Mumbai, it almost repeated the script.
Interestingly, there will also be a battle, within the bigger battle, to see which in-form wicketkeeper opener - K. L. Rahul or Buttler - comes out stronger.
Punjab has reasons to be wary of Rajasthan’s formidable batting. Buttler, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes are capable of adding to Punjab’s bowling woes.
On the batting front, notwithstanding the form of Rahul, Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal, Punjab’s areas of concern are the non-performance of its middle-order and the absence of a sixth bowling-option. Punjab could get into serious trouble should the top-order fail, for a change.
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Effectively, Rajasthan has the resources to get past Punjab. However, its vulnerability has come to the fore too often. That in turn has kept the opposing teams hopeful till the end.
Toss will again be important as batting second seems to be an integral part of the winning formula here. Should dew come into play, Rajasthan could be seriously tested on this big ground.
Also, like Virat Kohli mentioned on Saturday, if the bowlers manage to bowl dot balls to Gayle, the team’s run-rate falls dramatically. This fact was well illustrated when Royal Challengers Bangalore bowled 44 dot balls to Gayle. This is sure to be part of Rajasthan’s plans, too.
The match will be streamed live on Hotstar.
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