IPL 2018 Report Card: Kings XI Punjab spinners, KL Rahul score full marks; Rajasthan Royals captain Ajinkya Rahane fails

A pulsating half-century from KL Rahul and stringent spells from Axar Patel and Mujeeb ur Rahman, the eventual Man of the Match, helped Kings XI Punjab overhaul Rajasthan Royals at Indore by six wickets in their IPL encounter on Sunday. On a batting pitch, Rajasthan couldn’t post a big enough total, although they threatened to do it at one point of time. Once they failed to get past Rahul, the result was pretty much decided though Punjab’s soft middle-order nearly brought Rajasthan back into the game.

Here we put together the report card from the game:

Mujeeb ur Rahman - 10/10

The Afghanistan teenager was the game changer of the night with his impressive four-over spell. He dismissed Ben Stokes just when it seemed like the Englishman had started finding his groove and then went on to remove the set Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer off consecutive balls.

KL Rahul - 10/10

The brilliant Kings XI Punjab opener stood like a rock between Rajasthan and victory and damaged their hopes with a high quality knock of 84. He lost Chris Gayle early and did not find steady support until Marcus Stoinis walked out to the middle. But Rahul remained assured, cool and composed and finished off the game for Kings XI. His counter-attack against Jaydev Unadkat and Jofra Archer at the death was an absolute treat to watch.

Axar Patel - 10/10

As much as Mujeeb, Axar had a profound influence on the game with his tight stump-to-stump bowling. A flamboyant Jos Buttler was silenced as was a fiery Sanju Samson. Axar kept putting the ball in the right areas and the pressure created by him helped Mujeeb grab wickets at the other end. He ended his spell with excellent figures of 4-0-21-1.

Andrew Tye - 9/10

Giving Mujeeb terrific support from one end was Andrew Tye. He mixed up his lengths and pace really well to make life difficult for the Rajasthan batsmen on a surface expected to be a high scoring one. A back of a length delivery from him dismissed the dangerous Sanju Samson. He went on to add Rahul Tripathi’s wicket and conceded at just six an over in an impressive four-over spell.

Jos Buttler - 9/10

Despite scoring a fine half-century, Jos Buttler failed to make an impact, which is quite uncharacteristic of him. Even when he had a batting partner in Samson, Buttler couldn’t quite nail his big hits, but his return to form augers well for Rajasthan.

Sanju Samson - 8/10

The time Samson was at the crease was perhaps Rajasthan’s best period in the game. He was at his classy best and teased the Punjab attack with some pristine shots. His greater than run-a-ball 28, alongside Buttler, lifted Rajasthan’s hopes. However, once again, he was undone by a pull shot and timed the ball into the deep square leg fielder, the third time he has done that this IPL.

Karun Nair - 8/10

Karun Nair gave Rahul some solid company in the middle overs with a 23-ball 31. Karun was positive right from the word go but somehow slowed down as the innings progressed. His dismissal came at a wrong time for Kings XI and put pressure on a middle-order that hadn’t really delivered this season.

Marcus Stoinis - 8/10

With Kings XI Punjab needing one of their primary batsmen to stay put with Rahul, Stoinis played the second-fiddle role to perfection. He made just 23 in 16 balls but stood firm to close out Royals’ hope of digging out a win. His 68-run association with Rahul formed the backbone of the run chase.

Krishnappa Gowtham - 7/10

Without really going over the top, Krishnappa Gowtham was impressive in his three-over spell that leaked just 18 runs. He was tidy as usual and put a leash on the scoring rate with his stump-to-stump attack. Gowtham prized out Axar in the fag end of Kings XI’s run chase.

Ravichandran Ashwin - 6/10

Ashwin marshalled his troops really well and made some superb decisions that helped derail Rajasthan’s surge in the middle overs. He opened the attack and removed D’Arcy Short but was caught in the Samson blitz when he returned to the attack. To his credit, he pulled things back with the ball and used his bowlers quite well.

Ben Stokes - 5/10

The southpaw seemed to have found his mojo with the bat but was at the receiving end of a brilliant catch from Mayank Agarwal. He returned with the ball to extract revenge and dismissed Mayank but could not do much to alter the course of the game.

Jaydev Unadkat - 5/10

The 11.5 crore price tag has often weighed down Jaydev Unadkat this season of the IPL but keeping aside all kinds of negativity, Unadkat bowled two exceptional opening overs, hitting the right channel, and putting his cutters and slower ones to good use. However, most of his efforts came undone in the 18th over against a rampant Rahul. 15 came off the over and it spoiled Unadkat’s figures of the match.

Shreyas Gopal - 5/10

A handy cameo with the bat was Shreyas Gopal’s biggest contribution in the game. He walked in with Rajasthan struggling for momentum as he took it upon himself to resurrect the innings. At 114/7 in 16 overs, Rajasthan weren’t expected to go past 140 but a 16-ball 24 took Rahane’s boys to 152. Gopal couldn’t make much of an impact with the ball and this is where loses points.

Anureet Singh - 4/10

A former Kings XI Punjab seamer, Anureet Singh made his debut appearance in the 2018 season and started off on a pretty good note. He dismissed a well set Karun Nair with a deceitful knuckle ball but ended up with figures of 1/20 in 2 overs.

Chris Gayle - 3/10

The battle between the Universe Boss and sensational fast bowler, Jofra Archer, made for great viewing. Blows were exchanged back and forth, but Archer had the last laugh when Gayle blasted a cut shot straight to point. He, however, manages to stay clear of the lowest rating courtesy a good catch to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane.

Jofra Archer - 3/10

The tearaway from the Windies had a closely fought battle with Gayle that he managed to come out on top of but couldn’t inflict the same kind of damage on Gayle’s opening partner, Rahul. Archer wasn’t in his elements on Sunday after the opening spell and leaked 43 in his 3.4 overs, including 14 off the last four balls.

Mayank Agarwal - 2/10

Mayank’s woeful form in the IPL continued at Indore but he escaped from the bottom of the ratings chart courtesy a spectacular effort at the boundary ropes to get rid of a dangerous-looking Stokes.

Rahul Tripathi - 2/10

Tripathi came in with Rajasthan’s innings in complete doldrums. He could do little to resuscitate the innings and fell for a lacklustre 11 that came in 13 balls. He could perhaps be used better but the team has a wide array of top order batsman and the think-tank might be forced to look elsewhere.

Ankit Rajpoot - 1/10

After the honeymoon period this season, Ankit Rajpoot is getting a real taste of IPL and was taken to the cleaners by a belligerent Jos Buttler early on. His first two overs went for 13 runs each and although he grabbed Gowtham’s wicket at the end, his overall figures continued to be poor.

D’Arcy Short - 1/10

The Big Bash hero hasn’t yet found his feet in the IPL despite being in the country for close to a month. Short’s woes against spin continued as he mindlessly slogged Ashwin in the very first over to get dismissed.

Ajinkya Rahane - 1/10

Rahane has come under the pump quite often this IPL with his poor strike rate being a major area of concern. He pushed himself down to No 3 to accomodate Buttler at the top but couldn’t make much of an impact.

*Manoj Tiwary hasn’t been rated due to his minimal role in the game.

Rating chart: 10-9: Excellent, 8-7: Good, 6-5: Average, 4-3: Poor, 2-1: Very poor