The Rajasthan Royals stunned the Royal Challengers Bangalore with a clinical bowling performance on a pitch which offered some assistance to the seam bowlers initially. Shane Warne's decision after winning the toss was an easy one and he duly asked the Royal Challengers Bangalore to bat first and they were in early trouble following the dismissals of Wasim Jaffer, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid inside the first six overs.
The loss of Kallis and Dravid was especially crucial for the Royal Challengers Bangalore given their experience of conditions and both fell in unfortunate circumstances. Dravid failed to score before edging a sharp lifter down the leg side which the Rajasthan Royal's wicketkeeper Naman Ojah did well to hold on to.
Kallis went in the next over lifting Munaf Patel to Niraj Patel on the square leg boundary. Niraj actually let the ball slip between his fingers, but luckily it bounced off his knee and he reacted quickly enough to snaffle it before it touched the grass.
The innings which needed a substantial partnership never got one. The highest partnership of the innings was 20, which is indicative of a batting effort that momentum. “Even in 20-over cricket, you need partnerships and we didn't get any partnerships today,” the Royals Challengers Bangalore captain Anil Kumble said afterwards.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore was bowled out for 105 off the last ball of the innings. Amit Singh, who Kumble said he had only seen bowl on video, finished with 4/19 in an exhilarating spell of medium fast bowling, while Ravendra Jadeja claimed 3/15 in four overs with his left-arm spin.
The Rajasthan Royals had very little trouble in chasing down the score.
Graeme Smith made a quick 20 and when he got out, cleaned bowled by national teammate Kallis, there was the briefest of flashes of hope for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
They increased their self-belief some more when Ojah and Lee Carseldine got into such a horrible mix up that both ended up at the same end and the television umpire had to be called on and even he took five minutes and watched numerous replays before deciding Carseldine was the man out.
Any hopes for the Royal Challengers Bangalore were however snuffed out by a rapid partnership of 43 for the third wicket between Ojah and Yusuf Pathan that propelled the Rajasthan Royals to victory. They achieved their win with five overs to spare, crucially providing a boost to their run-rate which is the worst among the team in the top four on the table.
Ojah made up for his part in running Carseldine out by making an unbeaten 52 off 38 balls that included three fours and three sixes.
“I'm really happy with the way we bowled, we executed our plans really well, all-round it was a solid performance by the boys and it would be nice to carry the momentum from this win into the remaining part of the tournament,” said the Rajasthan Royals' captain Warne.
