After rains over the past few days, a clear sky at Cape Town was a relief for the cricket lovers who wanted to witness a contest between Rajasthan and Punjab. The Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh won the toss and he elected to bat first. The Punjab team left out Ranadeb Bose for the match while Ramesh Powar came in. Rajasthan also made one change. Swnapnil Asnodkar replaced Paul Valthaty.
The Punjab side had a shaky start when Karan Goel was run-out off the first ball. Rajasthan got their second break-through when the in-form Ravi Bopara was dismissed by Kamran Khan, thanks to a good catch by Munaf Patel at mid-on. The captain Yuvraj Singh came in at number four to join Sangakkara. The left-handed pair approached the innings in a careful way. However, Punjab were in for a shock when Yuvraj got out to a Munaf Patel delivery, edging the ball to the keeper Rawat.
The Kings XI batsmen seemed to have a tough time with the bat. They lost their fourth wicket when Jayawardene tried lofting the ball over mid-off but could not succeed. Munaf picked up his second wicket. While Sangakkara was looking in good touch, he did not get support from his fellow batsmen. The Punjab side went into the break at 60/4.
Post break, Sangakkara and Irfan Pathan began the reconstruction of the innings. A good partnership developed as Sangakkara and Pathan concentrated on singles and twos along with boundaries and sixers in between. Sangakkara went on to score his fifty with a six off Shane Warne. The partnership of 75 runs came to an end when Pathan was bowled by Kamran Khan. He got out in the 19th over after scoring 39 runs. THe Sri Lankan wicket keeper's innings also came to an end in the same over when he was run-out. Sangakkara score 60 runs off 51 balls. His innings included 2 fours and 2 sixers. After a poor start, the Punjab team finished the innings at 139/6, thanks to the efforts of Sangakkara and Irfan Pathan.
Requiring 140 runs to win, Rajasthan started off with the Proteas captain Graeme Smith and Asnodkar. Punjab, opened the bowling with the off-spinner Pawar. Rajasthan lost an early wicket when Asnodkar got out to Pathan, after an attempted pull went wrong for the batsman. Pathan struck again in the same over when Smith edged the ball to the keeper. Abdullah got the 3rd wicket for Punjab when Quiney was dismissed, caught behind. The Rajasthan team put into further trouble when Mascarenhas was bowled by Abdullah in the same over.
Disaster struck Rajasthan when Yusuf Pathan was dismissed by Chawla. An attempted sweep went wrong for Pathan and the ball landed in the hands of Karan Goel. At this stage Rajasthan had lost half their side and were limping at 36/5.
An over before the break, Rajasthan slipped further. They lost their 6th wicket when Abhishek Raut skied a Chawla delivery and was caught by Ramesh Powar. Chawla picked up his second wicket in the match. At the end of 10 overs a shaken Rajasthan were reduced to 48/6, going into break.
Rajasthan resumed after the break requiring 92 runs to win off 60 balls. Ravindu Jadeja along with Shane Warne tried to steady the innings. Singles and twos were the order of the day as the left-handed Jadeja and the Rajasthan captain Shane Warne were building on a partnership. With 5 overs left for the end of the match, Rajasthan were at 82/6 requiring 58 runs to win off 30 balls.
Any hopes of a Rajasthan Royals win reduced further when Jadeja was bowled by Yusuf Abdullah in the 18th over. After a partnership of 60 runs, the left-hander was dismissed on 37 giving Abdullah his 3rd wicket of the match. Rajasthan went into the last over requiring 34 runs to win. The Rajasthan team could only manage a score of 117 and lost the match by 27 runs.
Interesting Facts::
The 75-run partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Irfan Pathan was the highest for the 5th wicket in IPL 2009.
The 60-run partnership between Ravindra Jadeja and Shane warne was the highest for the 7th wicket in IPL 2009.
Kumar Sangakkara scored his first fifty of the season. It was the fifth fifty of his IPL career.
Shane Warne remained unbeaten on 48, registering his highest score of the IPL.
This was the last match to be played at Cape Town this season.
Man of the Match:
Kumar Sangakkara was declared the Man of the match.
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