IPL 2018, KXIP vs RR, Highlights: Rahul heroics, Mujeeb's 3-for help Punjab get back to winning ways

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Indore, May 6: Sanju Samson made a full-fledged dive and stretched his right hand out to hold onto the catch that would have won Rajasthan Royals the game. KL Rahul, set on 41, was leading Kings XI Punjab to a victory in their Indian Premier League (IPL 2018) game in Indore. Samson erupted in joy - his teammates also believed he had caught it and so did Rahul. And within minutes, their belief and the game was all taken away from them in this second of the Sunday double-header at the Holkar International Stadium.

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The on-field umpires directed the third umpire to take the final call. Before confirming the decision, Anil Dhandekar replayed the dismissal off Jaydev Unadkat patiently for about five minutes - with different speeds and multiple angles. The ball appeared to have just kissed the turf before Samson caught it and it was just the escape that Rahul needed. After all, that was the closest Rajasthan Royals came to dismissing the KXIP opener and that wasn't enough. KXIP chased down the 153, riding on Rahul's unbeaten 84 off 54.

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Few overs before that, the match was still evenly poised. Left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat, who had conceded just four runs in his first two overs, tested the grit of the KXIP batsmen in the 15th over. Marcus Stoinis (23 n.o. off 16) first survived an edge, which rolled away for a boundary, and then was lucky to get away with a run out. Rahul too had a close call with that Samson catch in the penultimate ball of that over, while Royals itself took solace over the fact that only seven runs came off it.

It then changed. Perhaps that was the break that the KXIP batsmen needed as they chased down the rest of the 51 runs with eight balls to spare.

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Even though Chris Gayle departed early in the chase, Rahul plundered the loose deliveries that came his way. Rahul, familiar with his Karnataka teammate K Gowtham's off-spin, eked out three boundaries in the second over. Karun Nair, after a close call early on, showed some meticulous strokeplay. He struck two exquisite sixes off Shreyas Gopal and Anureet Singh, but one bad shot did him in. He tried to pull a ball that pitched outside the off-stump and saw the ball bounce into the stumps after taking an inside edge from the bat. Axar Patel then punched through the deep midwicket region but did not get enough power that could carry it beyond the ropes - landing into the hands of D'Arcy Short.

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Stoinis too had his lucky breaks and you could say that Rahul was just meant to survive that catch.

Given the field day KXIP had earlier, with a relay catch and a forward dive by Gayle, Royals had to settle for the second place.

Some tight bowling and outstanding work in the field denied Royals a strong finish earlier. Jos Buttler (51 off 39) fought a lonely battle as the KXIP bowlers snapped the Royals' partnerships at regular intervals and restricted them to 152/9 in 20 overs. Sanju Samson fought by Buttler's side briefly before being dismissed for 28.

KXIP captain R Ashwin thought he had gotten rid of the danger man Buttler at the start of the seventh over, but the Englishman reviewed the lbw decision and survived. Later that over, Samson struck a flighted ball over long-on for a six. That was the only six of the Royals innings. Samson followed it up with a boundary by cutting it through backward point.

Their partnership though was cut short at 49. Samson, strong on the back-foot, was forced to play the pull after a short one by Andrew Tye. The Kerala batsman had enough on the hit but there was a fielder, Karun Nair, at deep square leg to pick it up.

That apart, KXIP's good work in the field came to the fore when Chris Gayle stretched forward to grab onto Rahane's late cut in the fourth over. Later, Ben Stokes saw his big shot pulled into the field by Mayank Agarwal, who picked the big hit at long-off in an awkward position and flung it back into the hands of Manoj Tiwary to complete the dismissal.

Mujeeb's (3/27) last two overs saw him bag three wickets. Returning after Stokes' dismissal, Mujeeb bowled a carrom ball to get rid of Buttler, who tried to punch it away and instead got an outside edge. The next ball, he bowled a googly and as Jofra Archer swung the bat lazily, the ball squeezed through to hit the middle stump. Mujeeb's hat-trick ball was a wide.

K Gowtham and Rahul Tripathi did not last long, but a late cameo by Shreyas Gopal (24 off 16) took Royals to the bonus total. Ankit Rajpoot leaked 11 runs in the penultimate over but Tye kept it tight to concede just four runs.