Jaipur: Career-best Twenty20 efforts from India batsman Ajinkya Rahane and Trinidad and Tobago medium-pace bowling allrounder Kevon Cooper scripted a 31-run victory for Rajasthan Royals over Kings XI Punjab in front of a vocal home crowd at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Hardly hitting the ball in anger, and instead relying on placement and precision, Rahane (98 off 68 balls) paved the way for Rajasthan's match-winning total of 191 for 4 while forming partnerships of 77 with Rahul Dravid (28) and 75 with Brad Hodge (21). In reply, a sloppy Punjab could only muster 160 for 9 as they slumped to their fifth consecutive defeat in IPL tournament openers, with Cooper marking his IPL debut with 4 for 25.
Adam Gilchrist's decision to field first came a cropper on a good batting strip, with Rahane tucking into Punjab's off-color new-ball pair. After a five-run first over from Praveen Kumar, Rajasthan were away in the second as Rahane smashed James Faulker past mid-on and through the covers for boundaries. The aggression was extended in the third over with Rahane carving four boundaries off Praveen; a firm drive past extra cover was followed by two leg-side flicks and a straight drive past the stumps.
Dravid picked up his first boundary with a drive off Faulkner, and his second took Rajasthan to 57 for no loss after the Powerplay overs. The scoring slowed over the next three overs which yielded 16 runs leading into the strategic time-out, and four balls after the interval Dravid picked out sweeper-cover off Harmeet Singh's gentle medium-pace. The wicket had little affect on Rahane, however, who creamed Harmeet for a boundary past extra cover and two balls later reached his half-century off 37 balls with a lovely chip for four over Piyush Chawla’s head. Ashok Menaria, one of Rajasthan's few home-grown talents, made no impression as he played all over one from Chawla and was bowled.
Gilchrist's decision to let Paul Valthaty bowl the 14th over proved a poor one, as it cost 16. After an edged four by Hodge, Rahane collected four and six with lovely use of the feet to move past his previous Twenty20 best of 62*. Harmeet was welcomed back into the attack in the 16th over with two fours by Rahane, and in the next Chawla was taken for three consecutive boundaries – the over was the costliest of the innings, at 18 - to take Rahane to 95.
Hodge's cameo came to end one ball after he smoked Faulkner for six, and Rahane was the next to follow, bowled by Faulkner for 98 in the penultimate over. Owais Shah (14 off eight) and Cooper (11 off three) injected quick runs to Rajasthan's total, which proved too much for Punjab.
Gilchrist got the run-chase going with two pulled boundaries off Siddharth Trivedi, and then swung Johan Botha for six and four in a 17-run run fourth over. He was unable to cash in a drop at mid-on, however, and perished for 27 when a mistimed straight drive off Amit Singh was held by Cooper running across from mid-off. Singh returned the favour in the next over when he held onto a juggling catch at short third man, after Valtathy slashed a wide full toss straight to him. Cooper's promising IPL debut continued when he picked up two wickets in this second over; Shaun Marsh flicked to Dravid and Abhishek Nayar top-edged an attempted sweep to the wicketkeeper. At 61 for 4 after eight overs, the fizz had gone out of Punjab's chase.
The last 12 overs were a mix of frenzied batting and urgent running, but never enough to threaten Rajasthan. Mandeep Singh top-scored with 34, Ankeet Chavan took two wickets in an over, and Cooper beat his previous best of 3 for 13 by bowling Chawla in the 19th over. Cooper capped a memorable game with two catches and a run-out, too.
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