Rajasthan Royals (RR) are back to their winning ways. After a good start to Indian Premier League Season V, they faltered mid-way to lose few matches on the trot. But yesterday they made a huge stride towards the play-offs after they beat Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 43 runs. Rajasthan Royals are now at the fifth position on the points table, whereas KXIP who showed some great resiliency in the tournament are on sixth position only to be separated by the virtue of run rate.

Here are some of the performances of the matches that mattered and decisive in shaping the course of the match:

Hits and flops of Rajasthan Royals:

Collective batting performance: Rajasthan Royals put up a collective batting performance to post a target of 177. They complimented each other well and most of the batsmen scored in 30s to keep the scoreboard ticking and post a challenging target for Punjab.

Shaun Tait: He did not feature in any of the matches for RR till yesterday and when he finally got a chance, he made sure that he used the opportunity to the optimum. He bowled with grit and determination and gave away just 18 runs in four over while taking two wickets.

Flops:

Ajinkya Rahane: A lot was expected from him at the top of the innings taking into consideration the standards that he set for himself. But he could stand up to it and scored only five runs.

Hits and flops of Kings XI Punjab:

Hits:

Ryan Harris: Ryan Harris was the pick of the bowlers for KXIP. Apart from him none of the bowlers could pose any kind of threat to RR batsmen. He scalped four by giving just 34 runs.

Flops:

Batting: Punjab batsmen looked scattered. They could not execute themselves properly and were no match for the RR bowlers. Apart from few  mediocre performances with the bat none of them could pose any challenge to the bowlers.