gets a length ball, drives it hard between mid-on and midwicket. Binny is thrilled. Faulkner congratulates him
RR won by 5 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)
That's all from us here. Goodnight and good luck
Quotes from the presentation
"Been the story of a few of our games," says Aaron Finch. "We played well. There were maybe a couple of overs we could have done better. Disappointing to get so close again, and lose out, but that seems to be the story so far. We couldn't take the wickets in the middle overs."
"It was a really good game," says Rahul Dravid. "We came back with the ball really well. At one point, 200 looked possible, but pulled them back. It's a good cricket wicket. There is something in it for the bowlers, but if you play well you can play your shots. 360 degrees. Good to see the youngsters finish it off in the end. Just the way everyone constructed it. Nut every day do you chase 180 without Watson and Hodge contributing big time.."
"180 was not easy to chase," says Ajinkya Rahane, the Man of the Match. "But overall everyone did well. Especially our bowlers came back,a dn I think they were 10-15 short. We just wanted to play cricketing shots, our normal game. I was disappointed to get when I did, but Stuart and Sanju did really well."
Dravid walks onto the field. Not hurried. Turns around and thanks the crowd too. Binny and Uthappa, opponents on the night, have a chat too. Royals are now one of the four teams tied at No. 2 on the table, RCB, Mumbai and Sunrisers being the others. This is getting all too interesting. All these four teams are also unbeaten at home. Stay with us for the quotes from the presentation
Should the keeper come up now? He is not doing so. Everybody in the circle
Birla has missed it. Faulkner has played this off the back foot, straight to midwicket, Binny wants the single. Never mind the single, he wants the strike. Faulkner is short, but Birla's throw has missed
Two from three now
full, outside off, dug out, Marsh makes a diving save at mid-off, but they take two because the ricochet has gone far
James Faulkner is in. Can they keep him on strike? Without giving him couples or boundaries, that is?
there is the IPL-style twist. Short, quick, hurrying on him, Samson pulls this straight down to midwicket. Another good fielding effort by Birla. Jaipur is stunned into silence
low full toss, nearly a yorker. Spooned out to third man for one
Five required now. is there an IPL-style twist coming up?
good yorker, middle and leg, somehow misses the leg stump. Rawat does well with the dive to deny them byes
Is Samson going to have a go at this? That will take them home
well bowled. Yorker. Dug out. Binny is almost off his feet while keeping this out, but recovers fast enough to take the single
full and straight, Binny stands tall, clears the front leg, and smacks this over long-on. Marsh goes for the catch, but this clears him. Binny pumps his fist
Samson tries the low-percentage ramp, is beaten by the full ball, is hit on the shoulder, but is alert to Binny's call, and takes the single
full, on off, driven nicely through extra cover. Deep cover has to run around to keep this in. Birla does well with the dive to keep them down to one
oh what a full toss to bowl now. Driven hard to the right of point. Yuvraj goes flying to his wrong side, but has dropped it
Eighteen of last two. Three boundaries do it. Two set it up. Can Pune deny them two deliveries? Bhuvneshwar to bowl
good bouncer, on the helmet, pulled away in hope. Gets a single to midwicket
short of a length, wide, cut away to deep point
follows a quick wide delivery, gets a thick edge, and Parnell's pace takes it fine of third man
what a shot first ball. Driven on the up. What a back-foot cover-drive. He just rises with this shortish delivery, and drives this between mid-off and extra cover
Sanju Samson to face now
short of a length, 140ks, on the stumps, runs it down to third man for one
Hodge wants the no-ball call. A full toss from Parnell, Hodge mis-hits it, he is saying this is too high. Caught at deep midwicket, by the way. The umpires are doing the sensible thing by checking the replays. They show the ball has dipped on him, and the bowler is fine
Twenty-nine to win off last three. Here is Parnell. He has two left. And he has gone for just eight
Sankar V: "the run rate started to swing better than the ball!!!"
pitches this up finally, no turn on this, beats his inside edge as he looks to work this to leg
The towels have come out. Is it dew?
too many long hops. This time Binny has enough time to go back and deposit this over midwicket. This should have happened three balls earlier, really
gets away with another long hop. Pulled away to long-on again, and this time Marsh misfields to allow them the second. The eye was not on the ball forever
Over 20 • RR 182/5