Punjab mess up the chase

In a battle to stay off the bottom of the points table,Rajasthan Royals came out on top. At 103 for 2 in the 11th over and with an asking rate of a little over eight-an-over...

In a battle to stay off the bottom of the points table,Rajasthan Royals came out on top. At 103 for 2 in the 11th over and with an asking rate of a little over eight-an-over,Kings XI Punjab choked on Wednesday. Rajasthan were looking for one breakthrough and the fact that it happened to be Yuvraj Singh,the home teams best bet under the circumstances,led to a collapse which ended with Punjab falling 31 runs short. They were bundled out for 152 in 19.1 overs.

The momentum gained from the last games win was frittered away and as the Punjab players sat huddled in the dressing room after the match,there were many points to ponder over. The bowling was ineffective,the fielding and catching both ordinary and the batsmen panicked,letting go of the game from a winning position. Punjab now hang on to the bottom of the table with little hope of cracking the last four.

The man who led Rajasthan Royals to an inspirational title triumph in the first edition of the IPL,Shane Warne,was in complete charge of his teams challenge on Wednesday as well. He rotated his bowlers smartly to create pressure situations,and during the time-out,he was charged-up and reworking the gameplan. Shaun Tait bowled well to pick three wickets for 22 runs in 3.1 overs.

Rajasthan Royals raced to 183 for 5 after having been asked to bat first. Kings skipper Kumar Sangakkara might have had the late evening dew factor on his mind,but he obviously undersestimated the brain of rival skipper Warne. The Punjab bowlers conceded too many boundaries and with way too many catches going down,it was a minor miracle that Rajasthan were contained under 200.

Falling short

Punjab were off to a flyer,with Ravi Bopara and Sangakarra flaying the wayward Rajasthan bowling. But once the two were separated and Manvinder Bislas cameo ended,Punjab were looking towards Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan to bail them out. In the end,Yuvraj fell to a tame shot,while Pathan was unlucky to be run out and from there on there was no answer.

For Rajasthan,a semi-final spot still looks distant,but they have managed to keep the winning momentum going and are now bunched with three other teams who have two wins from five games.