Past Saturday, Mumbai Indians (MI) heard the mighty roar of Jos Butler as he literally snatched the victory from the jaws of MI. On one hand, the defeat helped the Rajasthan Royals (RR) to mark their second win in the seven IPL matches, pushing MI down to the fourth position on the points table. While on the other hand, Ashwin’s Kings XI Punjab handed over their first win to the Royal Challengers Bangalore on the very day.
While both the teams have shown their best, three weeks back skipper Ashwin lead his team to their first win in the opening match at Jaipur. KXIP’s Afghan off-break Mujeeb Ur Rahman pranced upon the Royals scalping the wickets at the most crucial position of RR. It was the same match where Ashwin mankaded Jos Butler knocking him off at 69 from 43 balls.
Top Five Players to Watch Out Between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals.
Jos Buttler
Buttler has played like a possessed man on the field. He is the ace of the team pushing the team to the finish line in most of the matches. On Sat, Butler barraged the boundaries of the Wankhede stadium, registering the second win for his team. He knocked 89 runs off 43 balls.
Even in their first match against KXIP at Jaipur, Buttler rampaged the ground with his 69 runs before he was mankaded by the KXIP Skipper. In the 12th edition of IPL, Buttler had managed to score 288 runs in the seven matches so far. Till he takes off for England, Buttler is going to be the threatening attacker for all the opposition teams.
Chris Gayle
The Caribbean batsman is the time bomb for skipper Ashwin. Gayle has been the fastest player in IPL history to score 4,000 runs. With his aggressive 99 on Saturday, Gayle paved the winning way for his team.
Before this match, Gayle had knocked 79 against RR and a 69 against MI. He might not have been consistent with his performances but if you don’t get him out in the early overs, he is going to make you pay. After Warner and Rahul, Gayle (322) is third in line for the Orange cap list of the season.
Rahul is in fine form.
K L Rahul
The top order batsman has played a rebellious game against MI last Wednesday. With six fours and six sixes, Rahul bagged a hundred and the possible 4th position in the World Cup Squad this year. In the last season of IPL, Rahul had been the sensational as he had scored 659 runs.
Surpassing runs- smasher like Gayle, Rahul is second in line to the Orange Cap with 335 runs and has a strike rate of 130.85. He also holds the title of fastest IPL fifty, which he had scored in the previous season.
R. Ashwin
After his not-so- spontaneous action against Buttler in the earlier match of the IPL, the KXIP squad leader has been in the limelight of this IPL season. With an economy rate of 7.62 and nine wickets, Ashwin is at the seventh position for the Purple Cap of this season, while his teammate Mohammed Shami is ahead of him with 10 wickets.
Steve Smith
The Australian talisman has been back after his one year ban from the IPL. His unbeaten 73 off 59 has been the eye-catching performance of the season so far. In a total of seven matches, Smith has scored 186 runs. In fact, the right-hander will like to get a good score for his team as he is yet to play a match-winning inning. Furthermore, Smith will like to work on his strike rate.