Sidelights:
One could have termed the chase of 205 by KXIP the other day against CSK as “one of those days” and forget it easily, but KXIP batsmen did it again and that too with the same conviction is just an amazing thing. The same pair of Maxwell and Miller this time made another mockery of a slightly thin target of 191 posted by RR after heroics by their own Samson and Watson. Maxwell is not only unstoppable at this time but he is just amazing, to say the least, and the only thing he can’t do is to convert those near hundreds into full ones. KXIP must do well in bowling because Maxwell may have a failure just around the corner.
IPL 7 | Match 7 | RR Vs KXIP
Venue: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah
Toss: KXIP and elected to field first
Playing XIs:
RR: Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Steven Smith, James Faulkner, Rajat Bhatia, Kane Richardson, Dhawal Kulkarni, Praveen Tambe
KXIP: Cheteshwar Pujara, Virender Sehwag, Wriddhiman Saha, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, George Bailey, Mitchell Johnson, Murali Karthik, Akshar Patel, Parvinder Awana, Lakshmipathy Balaji
Mini Score Card:
RR 191/5 (20) Run rate: 9.55
Sanju Samson 52 (34) | Akshar Patel 1/22 (4)
Shane Watson 50 (29) | Mitchell Johnson 1/29 (4)
KXIP 193/3 (18.4) Run rate: 10.33
Glenn Maxwell 89 (45) | Kane Richardson 1/25 (3)
David Miller 51* (19) | James Faulkner 1/45 (3.4)
Result: KXIP won by 7 wickets
Points: KXIP 2 (4), RR 0 (2)
Man of the match: Glenn Maxwell (KXIP)
Umpires: Billy Bowden | Marais Erasmus | S Ravi (3rd) | K Bharatan (Reserve)
Match Referee: Andy Pycroft
How they played the game
Powerplay: RR 54 runs 1 wicket | KXIP 39 runs, 2 wickets
First 50 runs: RR 35 balls | KXIP 41 balls
50-100 runs: RR 33 balls | KXIP 31 balls
100-150 runs: RR 30 balls | KXIP 26 balls
Best Partnership
RR: 3rd wicket – 74 runs off 42 balls between Watson 50 (29) and Samson 23 (13)
KXIP: 3rd wicket – 116 runs off 67 balls between Maxwell 89 (45) and Pujara 21* (22)
Fours and SIXES
RR: 17 Fours – 5 each by Watson and Smith, 3 by Samson and 2 each by Nayar and Rahane) | 10 SIXES – 4 by Samson, 3 by Watson and 1 each by Nayar Binny and Faulkner
KXIP: 11 Fours – 8 by Maxwell and 3 by Pujara | 12 SIXES – 6 each by Maxwell and Miller
An important fact about the match – This was the first time RR has lost a game after posting 190+ score on the board in IPL.
In the PIC: Maxwell sends one out of the park
Picture Courtesy: ESPN-Cricinfo