Indore,
KL Rahul smashed a classy unbeaten half-century after young off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s exploits with the ball to guide Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable six-wicket win over laggards Rajasthan Royals in an Indian Premier League match here on Sunday. Chasing a modest 153-run target, Rahul anchored Kings XI’s innings scoring 84 off just 54 balls with the help of seven boundaries and three sixes.

Kings XI’s chase, however, started on a bad note as they lost the dangerous Chris Gayle (8) and Mayank Agarwal (2) in successive overs. While Gayle cut Jofra Archer straight to Sanju Samson at point in the fourth over, Agarwal pulled a short delivery from Ben Stokes to Rahul Tripathi at long-leg.

Rahul and Karun Nair (31) shared a 50-run stand for the third wicket off just 37 balls to stabilise Kings XI’s chase before the latter dragged Anureet Singh’s short delivery onto his stumps as Kings XI were reduced to 79/3. Axar Patel (4) too didn’t last long as he lofted Krishnappa Gowtham straight to D’Arcy Short at deep midwicket.

But Rahul went about his business calmly. He mixed caution with aggression and didn’t go for any extravagant shots. He brought up his fifty in the 17th over with an upper-cut six off Archer to bring down the equation to 27 runs off 18 balls. He and Marcus Stoinis (23 not out) shared an unconquered 68-run stand for the fifth wicket to comfortably take Kings XI home and to the third spot in the points table.

Earlier, Mujeeb led an impressive bowling display from Kings XI to restrict a struggling Rajasthan to a modest 152/9. Mujeeb (3/27) struck on the first two deliveries of the 15th over, first removing the dangerous-looking Buttler and then Archer to give himself a chance of registering a hat-trick. But he lost the opportunity as he bowled the hattrick delivery wide of the stumps.

However, Mujeeb’s exploits were enough to keep Rajasthan in check as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and failed to put up a challenging total.