An all-round show from James Faulkner helped Rajasthan Royals defeat last year’s finalists Kings XI Punjab by 26 runs in their first game of IPL 8 at Pune.
Chasing a competitive target of 163, Kings XI Punjab got off to a bad start as their opener Virender Sehwag got out to Tim Southee on the very first ball of the innings. Wriddhiman Saha and Glenn Maxwell also lost their wickets in quick succession leaving their team in a spot of bother. Faulkner struck three times including the wicket of Maxwell and with some tight bowling from the other end by Chris Morris and Pravin Tambe, Kings XI batting line-up got overpowered and as a result, they lost the match. Murali Vijay, who played his first match for Kings XI, scored 37 before being run-out by Sanju Samson.
Earlier after being put into bat, Rajasthan Royals were off to a worst possible start as they lost both their openers Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson inside the first three overs courtesy a great display of swing bowling from Sandeep Sharma and Anureet Singh. Stand-in skipper Steven Smith (Regular skipper Shane Watson was ruled out due to injury) provided stability from one end but fell short of partners and as a result, RR got reduced to 75/5 in 11 overs. Faulkner and Deepak Hooda came to the rescue and and added 51 runs for the sixth wicket before the former hit lusty blows at the end of the innings to take the team’s total to 162. Hooda scored 30 off just 15 balls whereas Faulkner, who was adjudged the man of the match, scored 46 off 33 with 3 sixes and 2 fours.