Mohali–A masterful death bowling effort, and Ajinkya Rahane's third straight fifty, helped consolidate Rajasthan Royals' place in the top four as they beat Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets in Mohali.
Kevon Cooper was the primary architect of Kings XI's slowdown towards the end of their innings, as his measured slower deliveries exploited the slow nature of the Mohali surface, and swept away much of the momentum Shaun Marsh and Adam Gilchrist had secured in a 102-run stand. Having arrived at the 14th over at 100 for 1, Kings XI could only stumble to 145 for 6 in their 20 overs and the batsmen failed to hit a boundary in the last four overs of their innings.
Cooper's first victim was Gilchrist who batted securely for 42 from 32, and helped Marsh overcome an indifferent start, until he offered Cooper a return catch off an off-cutter. Cooper returned in the 17th over and prove difficult to get away. He got both Marsh and David Miller next over off slower balls finishing with 3 wickets for 23 from his four overs.
At the toss, Dravid had cited his side's preference for chasing scores as a reason for fielding first, and his choice proved an insightful one as Royals executed a smooth run chase to record their seventh-straight victory batting second.
Watson and Rahane put on 66 before Watson was dismissed by Chawla. Rahane and 18-year-old Sanju Samson relied largely on singles and twos to form the base of their partnership, but quickly began finding the boundary as well. Samson was unbeaten on 47 from 33 with Rahane on 59 from 49.
Marsh's 64-ball 77 was the backbone of Kings XI's foundation, but their failure to kick on from a good start ultimately cost them the match.
Results:
Rajasthan Royals 147 for 2 (Rahane 59, Samson 47) beat Kings XI Punjab 145 for 6 (Marsh 77, Cooper 3-23) by 8 wickets
Kolkata Knight Riders 152 for 6 (Gambhir 50, Bhuvneshwar 3-25) beat Pune Warriors 106 (Mathews 40, Balaji 3-19) by 46 runs
