Rajasthan Royals are hosting the Kings XI Punjab in the 40th match of IPL 2018 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Tuesday (May 8).

The two sides had faced each other just a couple of days back in Indore where KXIP restricted RR to 152/9 in 20 overs and eventually won the contest by 6 wickets. However, the Rajasthan side put on an improved show tonight with the bat.

RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bat first. Even though Rajasthan got off to a flier courtesy Jos Buttler’s adventurous approach upfront, Rahane perished for only 9 in the fourth over. Three overs later, Marcus Stoinis got rid of Krishnappa Gowtham on 8.

All of a sudden RR were in trouble at 64/2 before Buttler and Sanju Samson rescued them with a scintillating 53-run partnership. After Samson’s dismissal, Buttler continued his tornado with Ben Stokes partnering him from the other end.

Buttler was eventually dismissed by Mujeeb in the 17th over but not before the England wicketkeeper dazzled the crowd with his swashbuckling 82 runs off 58 balls (9 fours and 1 six). Following the wicket of Buttler, RR lost the plot as Andrew Tye claimed two wickets in quick succession.

Thanks to some outstanding death-overs bowling from Tye and Mohit Sharma, KXIP eventually restricted RR to 158/8 in 20 overs. Tye finished with the remarkable figures of 4 for 34 in his 4 overs.

Twitterati were impressed to see the audacious strokeplay of Jos Buttler and KXIP’s comeback at the end of the innings.