The match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kings XI Punjab(KKXIP) actually lived up to the standards of IPL T20 and with two low scoring matches they were the first two teams to breach the 150 runs mark in this year editions.

It was ideally a battle between two of the former greats of World Cricket, Rahul Dravid, who was leading Rajasthan Royals up against Adam Gilchrist, the captain of KKXIP. It would be by no means unfair to say that these two stalwarts dominated the game of cricket outright for almost about 1 and ½ decades. They played with conviction, and now when they are representing their teams in IPL, nothing changed and they still lead from the front.

When a team line-up features player like them, they become synonym for the team and one can expect a cracker of a match.

So it did and it was KKXIP who bowed out of yesterday’s epic clash between two legends of the sport.

The match had a mix of good and bad performances as usual and let us now go through as to what worked for these teams and what are things that went against their cause.

Hits and flops of RR

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Ajinkya Rahane: The lad from Mumbai who was dropped from the national side after not being able to live up to the standards of an opener did take a huge step towards coming back into contention after his 66 balls 98. He was unfortunate to miss out on his century but nevertheless, his innings which included 16 fours and a six did RR post a daunting total which was eventually the winning total as well.

Rahul Dravid: If anyone thinks that he is not a T20 material then his knock from Friday’s match proves it wrong. Dravid who opened the innings for his team scored a fluent 28 off 24 balls including three fours. His strike rate of 116.66 is just ideal for this form of the game and would seriously shut down critics who think veterans do not belong here in T20.

Kevon Cooper: Kevon Cooper had an IPL debut to remember. After playing an impressive three balls 11 run cameo which consisted a six and four, he then shone with ball and on the field as well. He was involved in the dismissal of seven KKXIP batsmen out of the nine. He took four wickets by giving away 26 runs in four overs and then took two catches and was involved in a run out as well. Now that is prime example of all round cricket.

Flops:

They had few performances here and there but were not that huge that it would have an impact on the outcome of the match.

Hits and Flops of KKXIP

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Adam Gilchrist: He is still the man when it comes down to power hitting. And he seriously lived up to the bill. He scored a fluent 27 runs of 18 balls including three fours and a six at a strike rate 150. IPL is still in the initial stages and Gilchrist already started his blitzkrieg and only if he manages to perform like more on, hardly would anyone be able to counter him.

Mandeep Singh: He had a good match. When all the players were collapsing like nine pins, it was this man who played a good hand and scored 34 runs of 25 balls including five fours. He definitely is a force to look forward in this year’s IPL.

Flops:

Australian duo of Shaun Marsh and David Hussey: They are known for consistency and their prowess when it comes down to finishing a game. But they failed to deliver last night which was the biggest factor as to why their team crashed to a defeat. It is early on the season and they would jump back in upcoming matches, but their failure yesterday had a huge impact on the outcome of the match.

Bowlers: They were smashed all around and the biggest failure of them was Praveen Kumar. He went for 42 of four over without any wicket. And when a strike bowler has such a disastrous outing it seriously does kill the morale of the other bowlers.

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