Lokesh Rahul scored a wonderful half century, as Kings XI Punjab defeated Rajasthan Royals by 12 runs at the PCA Stadium, Mohali on Tuesday.
Rajasthan Royals included Ashton Turner, Stuart Binny and Ish Sodhi in place of Steve Smith, while Kings XI Punjab brought in Arshdeep Singh and David Miller in for Sarfaraz Khan and Andrew Tye.
After being sent into bat by RR skipper, KXIP pair of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul started cautiously, but picked up the score rate by putting on 38 runs for the opening wicket, before the latter was caught behind by Sanju Samson off Jofra Archer for 30.
Mayank Agarwal attacked the Rajasthan Royals bowlers right from the word go by scoring a quickfire 26, being being caught at long on by Archer off Sodhi.
The 26 year old Karnataka batsman along David Miller brought the innings back on track by adding a valuable 85 runs for the third wicket, before the former was dismissed in the 18th over for a well made 52.
The visitors lost a bit of momentum, as Jofra Archer bowled a brilliant penultimate over by picking up Nicolas Pooran and Mandeep Singh in quick succession.
Skipper Ravi Ashwin scored a handy 17, as Kings XI Punjab posted a competitive score of 182/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
The 24 year old Archer was Royals best bowler as he bagged 3/15, while Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat and Sodhi bagged a wicket each.
Chasing a target of 183, Rahul Tripathi and Jos Butler got their team off to a fantastic start by putting on 38 runs in 25 balls, before the debutant Arshdeep Singh got his maiden wicket by dismissing the in form Butler for 23.
The 28 year old Tripathi along with Sanju Samson added a valuable 59 runs for the second wicket, before the latter was bowled by Ashwin.
Punjab bowlers in the final stages bowled tightly by restricting the run flow as Rajasthan Royals failed to capitalize on the good start.
The 28 year old Maharashtra batsman after reaching his fifty was dismissed in the 16th over. Ashton Turner making his IPL debut was out for a first ball duck.
Stuart Binny gave the impetus to the innings by scoring an unbeaten 33, but failed to get support from the lower order batsman as Rajasthan Royals were restricted to 170/7 in 20 overs.
Ravi Ashwin was declared the Man of the Match.
The 33rd Match of the Indian Premier League will be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings at Hyderabad on 17 April, Wednesday.