Rajasthan Royals create history after defeating Kings XI Punjab by 4 wickets. They Chased Highest ever score in IPL history in a high scoring game at Sharjah.
Royals captain Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bowl first. The in-form Kings XI openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal put on show with bat, after scoring century in the last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rahul scored 69 runs on 54 balls for the night.
Mayank Agarwal impressive performance continues in this IPL, his blistering knock of 106 runs in just 50 balls put the team in commanding place with 223 runs on the board. Mayank & Rahul scored record breaking 183 runs for opening partnership. Pooran cameo of 25 runs in 8 balls is icing on the cake.
But not so soon, The Rajasthan Royals once again proved that nothing is impossible by chasing down highest ever total in IPL history. They have started second innings on backfoot after new inclusion Jos Buttler got dismissed for just 4 runs in 7 balls.But in-form batsmen Steve Smith and Sanj Samson took the rebuild activity on a whisker pace.
The Australian Captain scored 50 runs in 27 balls and before falling to James Neesham in 9th over. Sanju Samson scored 85 runs on 42 balls (four 4’s and seven 6’s). Punjab was in control of the game after claiming both set batsmen, but Rahul Tewatia had different ideas, he scored 53 runs in just 31 balls with the help of 7 towering 6’s.
Jofra Archer (13 runs in 3 balls) and Curran finishes out the game with boundaries. Sanju Samson won the man of the Match for his blistering knock and it’s two in two Man of the Match award for Samson.
Sanju Samson, the Man of the Match:
“I have been hitting well from the last on year. I have been in the right frame of mind. Don’t see a change in my game. First of all I was fed up with myself. I was trying hard but things were not happening. Then I worked hard. I asked myself what do I need to achieve? I told myself I have 10 years of this wonderful game in me, and I have to give everything to these 10 years. My family is supportive of that. The power comes from genes. My father is a very powerful man.”
Steven Smith: “That was something else, wasn’t it? Gnenrally it gets wetter so I thought we were in with a chance at the halfway mark. A lot of sixes hit here. We gave ourselves the chance. Yeah good to get over the line. Gee, Sanju is striking the ball cleanly all over the ground. Taking pressure off everyone. We will have to adapt to the bigger grounds, but these shots would clear everywhere. What we have seen from Tewatia in the nets is what we saw in that Cottrell over. I told someone as along as he gets one, floodgates will open. He showed heart. He told me during the timeout we still believe, Three sixes of Shami, three off Cottrell. Jofra again. First four balls sixes the other night. First two tonight. The bowlers did a great job. Looked like we would be chasing 250.”
Man of the day talks about his great match winning knock
Jofra Archer talks about Team mentality
Captain Steve Smith’s Match debrief
