IPL 2019: Match 4, RR vs KXIP, Review – Chris Gayle and Mankading help Punjab win their maiden game of the season

The game will be remembered for Ashwin's Mankad of Buttler the first of its kind incident in the IPL.

Published - 25 Mar 2019, 23:53 IST | Updated - 25 Mar 2019, 23:53 IST

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The fourth match of IPL 2019 between the Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab ended on a controversial note. Even though the hosts looked to be in the driver’s seat for a majority of the time, Ravichandran Ashwin’s mankading incident helped the visitors turn the match upside down. Chris Gayle was brilliant in the match but his efforts ended up being overshadowed by the shenanigans of the Punjab skipper.

For the first time ever, the team managed to win a game at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. It was Jos Buttler who fell victim to this mankading incident. He looked all set to hand over the Royals a handsome victory. But, he ended up having to leave the field red-faced.

Chris Gayle lights up Jaipur

Batting first in the match, the Kings XI Punjab didn’t have the ideal start. KL Rahul smashed a glorious boundary right at the start that had class written all over it. But, he got out in the first over itself after he got in two minds whether to play or leave the delivery and ended up nicking it. Buttler took a fine, single-handed catch to send him back to the hut. Chris Gayle took his time initially and only 32 runs came in the powerplay.

Mayank Agarwal hit 22 runs off 24 balls before he got out. Gayle’s exploits began in the 8th over of the match. He absolutely toyed with Jaydev Unadkat in the 12th over of the match. 19 runs were scored in that over and the batsman got past his half-century. With Sarfaraz Khan going strong at the other end, the stage was set for a 200-plus score.

19 runs came off the first four balls of the 16th over from Ben Stokes. Chris also tried to smash the fifth ball out of the park but hit it straight into the hands of the fielder and got out after scoring 79 off 47 deliveries. 29 runs came off the last two overs of the match and Sarfaraz remained unbeaten on 46 as Kings XI Punjab finished with a score of 184/4.

Jos Buttler goes bang, bang but gets mankaded

In the chase, Ajinkya Rahane welcomed Sam Curran to the IPL by hitting three boundaries of his first over. When he came back again to bowl the sixth, his English teammate Buttler smashed him for 19 runs. Rajasthan got off to a flyer with 64 runs scored in the first six overs. Buttler continued from exactly where he left off in IPL 2018 and went hard after the bowlers.

After scoring 27 runs, Ravichandran Ashwin disturbed Rahane’s timber with a well-deceived carrom ball. While the fans expected Steve Smith to walk out to bat, it was Sanju Samson who came into the middle. His role was just to rotate the strike and give Buttler as many deliveries as possible. The wicketkeeper-batsman played aggressive yet risk-free cricket and thus put his team on the top.

But just as things were going the Royals’ way, Ashwin pulled off the Mankad. He stopped during his bowling stride, as the batsman left the crease and then flicked the bails off. He was out of the crease and was ruled out by the third umpire.

Steve Smith scored 19 off 16 in his comeback game before KL Rahul pulled off a blinder to dismiss him. The Royals lost some quick wickets and the game kept slipping away from them. No one could really stand up and deliver towards the end as they lost the match by 14 runs.