“Shanes” did it! Underdog Jaipur squad stunned Punjab Kings in an IPL T20 match at Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur. Mohali IPL suffered their second successive defeat despite having so many international stars in their squad. Shane Warne and Shane Watson steered Jaipur to a comfortable victory. Rajasthan Royals defeated Punjab Kings by 6 wickets with 11 balls to spare. Both captains played well in this match but Yuvraj was not supported by teammates. This is a shocking loss to confident Mohali.
Toss: Yuvraj won the toss and elected to bat first on a flat batting paradise.
Jaipur coach and captain Shane Warne bowled a superb spell by giving just 19 runs in his 4 overs and took 3 crucial wickets of Yuvraj Singh, Kumara Sangakkara and James Hopes. He guided inexperienced Jaipur bowling attack in restricting Mohali to comfortable 165 runs. Munaf Patel and Shane Watson chipped in well with a sharp piece of medium pace.
Shane Watson scored 76 runs 49 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixers. Ravinder Jadeja played a cameo knock in the end by hitting crucial 36 runs in 25 balls under stressful conditions. Their partnership of 69 runs in 43 balls turned this tight match into a one sided one. I can’t understand why Mohali picked Sreesanth and Piyush Chawla who are not ideal T20 bowlers. Yuvraj should stop selecting his friend Sreesanth for the team's cause. Wayward bowlers will be brutally exposed by batsmen in twenty20 games. Irfan Pathan escaped the onslaught of Rajasthan Royals with an intelligent bowling.
Earlier, Yuvraj Singh helped Punjab to reach 165/8 by hitting 57 runs in just 34 balls. Shane Warne took crucial wickets at vital point of time. Quick loss of wickets in the middle overs of the Mohali innings changed the course of the match.
IPL T20 Cricket match score card:
Punjab Kings Eleven: 166/8 in 20 overs.
Rajasthan Royals: 168/4 in 18.1 overs.
IPL Match result: Jaipur defeated Mohali by 6 wickets.
Rajasthan Royals: 168/4 in 18.1 overs.
IPL Match result: Jaipur defeated Mohali by 6 wickets.
Man of the match: Shane Watson.
Highlights:
1. Irfan Pathan dropped his brother Yusuf Pathan.
2. This is the sixth successive IPL T20 match where foreign players won the man of the match award. Only God knows when Indian Players win this award.
3. Share Warne (Bowling) and Shane Watson (Batting) are the architects behind this win.
4. Ravinder Jadeja is the young Indian hope who played sensible innings at a crucial point of time.
5. Piyush Chawla helped Punjab with bat with a cameo knock of 24 runs in 11 balls.
6. Rajasthan Royals dropped 2 simple catches. Kaif and Lehman are the culprits.
7. Kamran Akmal played in this match but showed little impact.
8. Shane Warne once again exhibited his genius qualities – Wonderful captaincy, cool bowling and inspirational coaching.
9. Strong Mohali squad is suddenly looking as a weak team after two successive defeats. It will be very difficult for them to reach semi-finals now.
10. Jaipur’s victory will help to spread IPL story in to new markets. Anything can happen in twenty crickets.
Do you know that IPL architect Lalith Modi belongs to Rajasthan?
This T20 match once again prove that Twenty20 cricket is not about brutal onslaught but it is all about sensible cricket in a short period of time.
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