Throughout his international career, Rahul Dravid rarely showed emotions on the field. But the moment David Hussey holed out in the deep, a pumped-up Rajasthan Royals skipper rushed to congratulate the fielder as well as the bowler, Siddharth Trivedi. That showed how special this win was, coming
after four straight losses.
Dravid first led the batting to ensure a solid total of 178 and then rotated the bowlers effectively to strangle the Kings XI Punjab batsmen. He was spot-on with the changes. Fast bowler Shaun Tait played his first game, sent down 4 overs for just 18 runs and took two wickets.
Shaun Marsh was again the pick of the KXIP batsmen after the hosts were reduced to 29 for 2. Marsh took Ankeet Chavan for 18 runs and that was it, as the home batsmen struggled to put bat to ball.
Dravid seems to have found second wind in this IPL. He forged a whirlwind 69-run partnership with Shane Watson. He hit pacer Ryan Harris for three consecutive, and classy, fours and meted out the same treatment to Praveen Kumar.