Two wickets off two no balls in Punjab's first two overs, established that luck was riding in Kings XI's direction and the home team ensured they made the most of it. After rampaging their way to huge total of 195 they made sure Rajasthan fell 48 runs short to register their third victory on the trot.
Earlier in the very first over of the game, Siddharth Trivedi got Gilchrist to edge a delivery back onto the stumps. Gilly began walking when the keeper collected the ball and dislodged the stumps as the umpire signaled a no ball. The rule book states that a batsman cannot be run out if he is walking because he thinks he is out. So instead of being back in the hut, the Punjab skipper was in with a free hit that he belted into the boundary.
In the next over Shaun Tait got dangerman Paul Valthaty to edge a delivery to Ross Taylor at third slip and everyone thought the law of averages had caught up with find of IPL 4. But the umpire went upstairs to check if Tait had his foot on the side line and yet again the batsman got a life because of a no ball.
From there on there was no looking back. Valthaty and Gilchrist launched into the Rajasthan bowling attack paying no attention to reputation or seniority. The assault was so ferocious that Punjab crossed the 50-run mark in just 2.5 overs.
It was no surprise when Warne brought himself on to bowl the 4th over. Gilchrist greeted his former teammate with a huge six off his second delivery and by the time he departed departed for 28 in the 5th over Punjab were on 67 and the damage to Rajasthan's confidence had been done.
Shaun Marsh walked in and took over where from where Gilchrist had left off - hitting boundaries at will and taking 21 off Warne's last over that included three humongous sixes. His innings of 71 came off just 42 deliveries.
At the other end, Valthaty continued to ride his luck with good measure. Two of his miscued shots into the air were dropped off consecutive balls, first by Shane Watson and then by Swapnil Asnodkar. He was out for 46 off 31 balls when another mistimed shot off Warne went down Tait's throat.
The Royals pulled things back and picked up some wickets after the 15th over to restrict Punjab to 195-8 after a score of 200 plus looked like a near certainty.
195 was still a tough ask - the tournament's highest total so far and Rajasthan were never quite in the game during their chase. Rahul Dravid hit two beautiful boundaries before giving too himself too much room to a ball from Ryan Harris that took an inside edge onto the stumps.
Swapnil Asnodkar departed soon after, clean bowled by Praveen Kumar. When Shane Watson was out after a quickfire 24, the writing was on the wall. Praveen was the pick of the bowlers for Punjab, giving away just 22 runs off his 4 overs and picking up those two wickets.
Taylor was then sent back for a duck and despite a partnership between Stuart Binny and Ashok Menaria, the Kings XI never really looked threatened. In the end, Rajasthan fell 48 runs short ending their innings at 147-7 and giving Punjab a comprehensive win - their third in a row.
Kings XI Punjab 195 for 7 (Marsh 71, Valthaty 46, Tait 3-22) beat
Rajasthan Royals 147 for 7 (Praveen 2-22, Bhatt 2-20) by 48 runs
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