Bangalore Royal Challengers beat Rajasthan Royals by 75 Runs!

Defending the total of 133 runs, Bangalore pacer Praveen Kumar struck early to dismiss Rajasthan Royals openers Swapnil Asnodkar and Graeme Smith in their IPL tie at Cape Town.

Asnodkar, also called as the ‘Goan Cannon’ by his teammates, failed to fire and went back without opening his account. He mishit a delivery that landed on the middle and off-stump and Virat Kohli took a sitter at point.

Praveen soon picked his second victim as he removed Smith for 2 runs. He lured Smith with a short ball and the South African skipper came up to slash it but was taken successfully by Rahul Dravid at the first slip.

Dravid was also impressive while batting as he struck a well crafted fifty to take Royal Challengers Bangalore’s score to 133 at the loss of 8 wickets. The former Bangalore captain kept one end intact as wickets kept tumbling from the other end. He tried to consolidate the innings of his struggling team but it remains to be seen if that proves to be enough.

He took 48 balls to raise his third fifty of the Indian Premier League since its inception, with the help of eight fours and a massive six.

Earlier, electing to bat first, Royal Challengers lost two wickets - Jesse Ryder and Ross Taylor - in the first over of the match by Dmitri Mascarenhas.

Royal Challengers, who finished seventh last year, started their second season under new skipper Pietersen to experience some change in fortunes, but Warne’s side showed no complacency and struck early on.

England all-rounder and T20 specialist Mascarenhas first dismissed the in-form Jesse Ryder with an in-swinger. The Kiwi batsman came forward to play the delivery that was pitched outside the off-stump but the ball came in and took an edge of Ryder’s bat before flying into the hands of wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat.

Mascarenhas struck again with the next delivery, only to remove Ryder’s compatriot Ross Taylor for a nought. He tossed the ball on the off that swung in. Ryder wanted to steer it towards the fine leg but missed it completely and the ball crashed into his stumps.

He soon picked Robin Uthappa as his third victim. Uthappa tried to smack a good length ball over the midwicket but the ball took a top edge of his bat and Rawat made no mistake in collecting it.

Pietersen was then joined in by his predecessor Rahul Dravid and the two added 35 runs for the fourth wicket. Debutant Tyron Henderson dismissed Kevin Pietersen as the fourth Bangalore wicket. The former England skipper made 32 runs with help of four boundaries before he hit one from Henderson directly to Neeraj Patel who took a sensational catch diving forward.

After KP’s fall, Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne introduced himself and left the likes of Virat Kohli (3) and Balachandra Akhil clueless. He deceived Kolhi with his leg spin as the Bangalore batsman failed to read the line and got castled.

Balachandran was done in by the legend’s flight. The ball sneaked through his bat and pad and knocked the stumps.

Munaf Patel took cue from his skipper and picked two wickets of Praveen Kumar and Rahul Dravid. While he dismissed Praveen with a return catch, Dravid was taken by Warne at extra cover.

Royal Challengers: Robin Uthappa, Jesse Ryder, Ross Taylor, Kevin Pietersen, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Akhil, Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Dale Steyn, Anil Kumble.

Rajasthan Royals: Graeme Smith, Swapnil Asnodkar, Niraj Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Dmitri Mascarenhas, Rawat, Tyron Henderson, Yusuf Pathan, Shane Warne, Kamran Khan, Munaf Patel.

Credits: NDTVCricket