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Jaipur: Fine knock by Ajinkya Rahane (98) backed with deadly bowling by Kevon Cooper (4/26) guided Rajasthan Royals to a crushing 31-run victory over Kings XI Punjab in their IPL clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Friday.
Chasing a stiff target of 192, Kings XI Punjab could only manage 160 for the loss of nine wickets in their stipulated 20 overs.
Kings XI Punjab had a dismal start to their run chase as they lost Adam Gilchrist, Paul Valthaty, Shaun Marsh and Abhishek Nayar in quick time against Rajasthan Royals.
Medium pacer Kevon Cooper cleaned up Piyush Chawla in his final over of the innings to pick up his fourth wicket. Copper finished with the figures of 4/25 in his quota of four overs.
Left-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan picked up two wickets for Rajasthan. Siddharth Trivedi gave breakthrough to Rajasthan team as he dismissed David Hussey (13). Kings XI Punjab were tottering at 112 for 5 after 14 overs.
Kevon Cooper triple strike gave denting blow to Rajasthan Royals' run-chase as he picked up his third wicket when he dismissed Abhishek Nayar. Cooper dismissed Shaun Marsh (7) for his second wicket.
Seamer Amit Singh gave Rajasthan first breakthrough as he got rid of Adam Gilchrist, who scored a quickfire 18-ball 27 with the help of three fours and one six.
Rajasthan lost their second wicket in the form of Paul Valthaty who managed just 13 runs. Kevon Copper sent Valthaty back to pavillion.
Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane scored a blistering 98 to power Rajasthan Royals to a mammoth 191 for four against Kings XI Punjab in their opening match of the Indian Premier League season five in Jaipur on Friday.
Rahane turned out to be the cynosure of all eyes at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, scoring his 98 runs off just 66 balls with the help of 16 boundaries and a lone six.
Just when was set for the first century of IPL 5, Rahane was bowled by James Faulkner (2/41) in the final over of the innings two runs short of the magical three-figure mark.
Put into bat, captain Rahul Dravid ()28 off 24) and Rahane gave a flying start to Rajasthan's innings, sharing 77 runs for the opening stand that came off just 57 balls.
After a quiet first over, Rahane broke the shackles with two consecutive boundaries off Faulkner in the next.
Rahane then clobbered Praveen Kumar for four fours to pick up 16 runs of the bowler's second over.
Dravid, on the other hand, played sensibly with ones and twos but hit boundaries when opportunities came his way.
After toiling hard for 9.3 overs, Kings XI finally managed to get the breakthrough when Dravid was dismissed by Harmeet Singh (1/23), caught by Faulkner at the cover boundary as he tried to slap one over the in-field.
Rahane soon brought up his fifty in style off just 37 balls, hitting Piyush Chawla (1/33) straight over his head in the 10th over.
The visitors, however, tasted another success in the same over when Ashok Maneria was castled by Chawla for a duck.
But the two quick dismissals had no effect on Rahane, who went about his business in style, and struck two boundaries and a six to pick up 16 runs from Paul Valthaty's only over.
Rahane was in ominous mood today as he played delightful strokes on all sides of the wicket and did not spare a single Kings XI bowler.
Chawla once again came under Rahane's fury when the right-hander smashed the leg-spinner for three consecutive fours in the 17th over.
Brad Hodge also played his part with a 16-ball 21-run knock before he was bowled by Faulkner.
Owais Shah (14 not out off 8) and West Indian Kevon Cooper (11 not out off 3) also played little cameos towards the end.
Brief scores
Rajasthan Royals 191 for 4 (Rahane 98, Faulkner 2-41)
Kings XI Punjab 160 for 9 (Mandeep Singh 34, Cooper 4-26, Chavan 2-28)
Results Rajasthan Royals won by 31 runs
Points Rajasthan Royals 2, Kings XI Punjab 0
