IPL 2018 Match Score KXIP vs RR: Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) will aim to bounce back to their winning ways when they take on bottom-placed Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Holkar Cricket Stadium. While Punjab are placed fourth with five wins and three defeats and 10 points, the Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan languishes at the bottom of the league points-table with just three wins from eight games. With just six points in their kitty, Rajasthan are in a must-win situation with the league just about past the midway point. Although both teams have suffered two straight defeats each, Punjab have a better chance to book a play-off berth.
Punjab’s batting mostly relies on opener Chris Gayle, who has accumulated 302 runs from just five games, averaging 100.66. Even in their last encounter against Mumbai Indians on Friday, when most of the Punjab batters failed to go big, the self-proclaimed ‘Universe Boss’ slammed a 40-ball 50, laced with six boundaries and a couple of sixes.
With the IPL entering its business end, skipper Rahane will expect his team to get their act together and aim for consistency. In their previous match, Rajasthan fell short against Delhi Daredevils by just four runs in a rain-affected tie. Rahane and Samson have been their best batsmen this season but inconsistent run of Ben Stokes and Jos Butler has affected their performance this season. Rajasthan couldn’t afford another defeat from here as it would almost crush their dream of a play-off berth.
WATCH| IPL LIVE Streaming KXIP vs RR
Here are Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals Score:
[matchcode-to-post id=”kprr05062018186208″]
11:07 pm: Excellent weekend for Mumbai overall. RCB lost, Delhi lost, they beat KKR and now looks like RR will win. Stars moving in the right direction and things seem to be falling into place for them. — Kings XI still need 52 off 31 balls.
10:43 pm: Kings XI Punjab require another 73 runs with 7 wickets and 54 balls remaining.
10:02 pm: Kings XI Punjab require another 134 runs with 10 wickets and 17.0 overs remaining.
9:55 pm: Welcome back. Chris Gayle has walked out. KL Rahul will take strike. Royals have decided to follow Kings XI and start with spin. K Gowtham has the new ball. How will his offbreaks fare against the best opening partnership in IPL 2018.
9:00 pm: Mujeeb Ur Rahman to Stokes, OUT, the relay catch! Mayank grabs it at long-off, but he’s overbalancing, he knows he will go over the boundary, so he lobs the ball over to Tiwary at long-on and it is seamless. It is poetry. It is very very good. And so Stokes has to go, after smacking a loopy old delivery on leg stump straight down the ground. The percentages were right. But Kings XI outdid him on two counts: Mujeeb followed his moving away to leg stump. And then Mayank stayed supremely calm on the boundary, leapt up to take the catch over his head, and then relayed the ball through at the perfect height to his mate Tiwary.
8:55 pm: Two England batsman in the crease Can we have some demolish.
8:51 pm: Ben Stokes is in. He’s been a bit off colour. Soft pink instead of flaming red
7.33pm Kings XI Punjab have won the toss and are bowling first.
Anureet Singh is Royals’ debutant. And Yuvraj Singh is back in the bench as he has been replaced by Manoj Tiwary.
Here are Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals squads:
Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler (wk), D’Arcy Short, Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, K Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Anureet Singh, Jaydev Unadkat
Kings XI Punjab: KL Rahul (wk), Chris Gayle, Karun Nair, Mayank Agarwal, Marcus Stoinis, Manoj Tiwary, R Ashwin (capt), Axar Patel, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ankit Rajpoot, Andrew Tye
