Instrumental with both bat and ball, ace all-rounder Ben Stokes stole the limelight from Chris Gayle as Rajasthan Royals clicked as a unit to beat Kings XI Punjab by seven wickets and stay afloat in the IPL on Friday.

Adjudged the Man of the Match, Stokes hit a 26-ball 50 and also claimed two wickets to emerge as the star performer for his team.

However, during the Punjab innings, it was raining sixes as the ‘Gayle storm’ hit the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium. The Jamaican smashed a 63-ball 99 to power KXIP to 185/4.

Chasing 186 for the win, RR overhauled the target in just 17.3 overs. While Stokes led the charge, Sanju Samson was equally impressive during his knock of 48 from 25 balls.

Opener Robin Uthappa contributed 30 off 23 balls, while captain Steve Smith, who has been struggling for form, and Jos Buttler remained not out on 31 and 22 respectively to take RR home and snap KXIP’s five-match winning streak.

The Royals’ collective batting effort ensured that KXIP batsman Chris Gayle’s superb 99 went in vain. During his knock, the West Indies batsman had taken his tally of sixes to 1001 in his glorious T20 career.

With the win, their sixth in 13 matches, RR have kept their hopes for a spot in the playoffs alive with 12 points with one game left. Despite the loss, KXIP are still in contention with 12 points from 13 matches.

Rajasthan stitched an explosive start to their run chase with Stokes and Uthappa amassing 60 runs inside the powerplay. Stokes was in magnificent form during his brisk innings as he timed the ball with the utmost ease.

The Englishman hit Murugan Ashwin for two sixes and a four to take 16 runs from the fourth over. He reached his fifty off 24 balls when he hoisted Chris Jordan for a six in the sixth over.

But Jordan got his revenge by removing Stokes just two balls later.

However, the Steve Smith-led side were still cruising ahead at 66/1 at the end of powerplay and with Samson firing on all cylinders, they went past the 100-run mark in the 10th over.

The fireworks were briefly halted after Uthappa fell in the 11th over to Ashwin but Rajasthan were still in complete control with the asking rate less than seven runs an over with seven wickets in hand.

Earlier, Gayle and captain KL Rahul (46) took the RR bowlers to the cleaners, knitting a 120-run stand for the second wicket in 13.4 overs to help KXIP post a challenging total.

Nicholas Pooran played a late cameo of 22 off just 10 deliveries with the help of three sixes.

Gayle, who had four boundaries and eight sixes in his explosive knock, was out just two balls before the end of the innings and the animated 41-year-old showed his disappointment of missing out on a hundred flinging his bat in disappointment.

Gayle reached his third fifty in six matches in this IPL in style, hitting a six off Rahul Tewatia in the 11th over as KXIP cruised along to reach the 100-run mark in the 13th over.

KXIP lost their first wicket in the opening over itself when Mandeep Singh got dismissed for a first-ball duck with Ben Stokes taking a brilliant diving catch off an equally superb delivery by Archer.

Stokes finally got the breakthrough by getting rid of the tournament’s top run-getter Rahul in the 15th over to put brakes on KXIP innings.

Meanwhile, with Rajasthan’s win, the permutation and combination for the playoff berth have become convoluted.