Sanju Samson’s breathtaking strokeplay formed the cornerstone of Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) 19-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a high-scoring  Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here yesterday.

Riding on Samson’s 45-ball-92, Rajasthan Royals posted a competitive 217 for 4 on a batting belter and then managed to restrict the home team to 198 for 6, earning their second victory in three games.

RCB, on the other hand, slumped to their second defeat in three games despite skipper Virat Kohli (57 off 30 balls)’s first half-century of this edition. It was ‘local boy’ Shreyas Gopal who removed a rampaging Kohli in the 11th over to turn the match decisively in his team’s favour. Kohli’s pull shot was taken at deep mid-wicket by Darcy Short, who timed his jump to perfection.

KXIP beat CSK

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by four runs on Sunday to end southern outfit’s winning run in the IPL. Put in to bat, Punjab wasted their solid start but managed to post a challenging total of 197/7.

In reply, Chennai batters failed. Apart from Ambati Rayudu (49) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (79 not out), no other batsmen seemed comfortable in-front of Punjab’s bowlers and went cheaply to lose the game.

Big names like Shane Watson (11), Murali Vijay (12), Sam Billings (9) and Ravindra Jadeja (19) failed to score handsomely in a big run chase.

Towards the end, Dhoni tried to pull off the things single-handedly but failed and his 44-ball unbeaten innings went in vain.

For Punjab, Andrew Tye scalped two wickets.

Earlier, KXIP failed to make the most of the flying start given by openers Chris Gayle and Lokesh Rahul and settled for 197/7.