IPL 2018, KXIP vs RR: 5 reasons why Rajasthan lost

Rajasthan Royals' IPL campaign just went from bad to worse as they lost their third game on the trot against Kings XI Punjab. A 51 from Jos Buttler and chippings from Sanju Samson and Shreyas Gopal took them to a par score of 152/9.

In reply, Kings XI Punjab lost the wickets of Chris Gayle and Mayank Agarwal but a partnership between KL Rahul and Karun Nair brought them right back on track. Rahul went on to make 84 and got some assistance from Marcus Stoinis. KXIP won the match with 8 balls to spare.

The win brought an end to Punjab's two-match losing streak and took them up to third in the table. Rajasthan Royals on the other hand, remained at the bottom position.

Here are 5 reasons why Rajasthan Royals were humbled tonight

#5 Failure of many of their key batsmen to deliver

D'Arcy Short who played pretty well against Delhi Daredevils, scored just 2 tonight. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane was lacklustre too, scoring just 5. Ben Stokes began well by hitting a couple of boundaries before being dismissed by a brilliant dual effort by Mayank Agarwal and Manoj Tiwary.

While 152 can be considered a pretty decent total in T20 cricket, what has to be accounted that only three RR batsmen played decently- Jos Buttler (51), Sanju Samson (28) and Shreyas Gopal (23). The others just came and departed soon.

Had these batsmen played another 30-40 deliveries combined, Rajasthan Royals could have posted a stronger total on the board.