Rajasthan Royals finally managed to open their account in the IPL when they thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders by 34 runs. Having lost 3 matches in a row, Shane Warne couldn’t have asked for a better performance from his boys. Although it has to be said that it was a intent-less chase from Kolkata as they gift wrapped the game for the royals.
KKR Innings
After having watched a 200 plus score overhauled the other day it was boring to see a match which lasted only 30.2 overs. It was an early night for the Bangalore crowd. Rajasthan Royals were thrashed royally by the Bangalore Royal Challengers as they were beaten comprehensively by 10 wickets to crash to their 3rd successive defeat in this season. Rajasthan’s batting order collapsed to a paltry 92 thanks to a superlative bowling performance by the men in red not to forget the hatrick by Praveen Kumar which apparently is the first of the season. The openers chased it down with 56 balls to spare to give RCB one of the most comprehensive victories in IPL.
It was almost the same target that Delhi was chasing but it was a comprehensive win today unlike the tense one against the Kings XI. Delhi Daredevils once again delivered a combined effort with the ball to limit Rajasthan Royals to 141 for 6 Barring a brief period of fireworks, Rajasthan Royals had largely to blame themselves for the modest score . When you have Sehwag in the opposition you are always praying that he gets out early but it was not to be. But sadly for Warne and Rajasthan Royals muscled his way to the fastest half-century of this IPL to secure the 2nd consecutive win for Delhi and 2nd loss for RR.
“I’ve played cricket for 21 years and I have seen Sachin Tendulkar as the best batsman against whom I have played as he has murdered attacks and hit them all over the park. But today was the best innings I have ever seen,” No Guesses for who made that comment. Yes the spin wizard Shane Warne showering praise on his team mate Yusuf Pathan who almost won the game single handedly with his ferocious 37 ball 100 which also happens to be the fastest in IPL and 2nd fastest in the history of T20 cricket.
Royals Innings
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It was a Do or Die match for the Royal Challengers if they had to keep their hopes of entering the semifinals alive. Set a modest 135 to chase, they lost Uthappa very early. Kallis and Dravid got together and they had a very good partnership of 70 of 69 balls. Dravid got out 2 overs after the strategic break leaving the Royal Challengers to get 8 runs per over for the rest of the 7 overs.Taylor came in and played a cameo of 25 runs of just 12 balls which included 3 6′s. That brought the rate down and Kallis Boucher got the Royals home with 1 over remaining. In the end it has to be said that Delhi has been experimenting a lot which might prove costly when it matters i.e. in the SemiFinals.
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The Deccan Chargers grabbed a stunning Victory from the Jaws of defeat and the exact opposite holds for the Kolkata Knight Riders. They have been on the wrong side all this IPL and they had a wonderful chance to regain some lost pride and would have definitely if it was not for the last over. Needing 21 from the last over Rohit Sharma, the bowling all-rounder 
finally came good with the bat and got the Chargers home. It was a see saw battle with both the teams having their moments in the match but when it mattered the most the Chargers kept their cool and are now just a win away from booking a berth in the Semifinals.
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It was a clash of Titans and there was going to be only one winner and it was Warne who walked away with the Man of the Match award for leading his side to victory against Mumbai. 3 runs from 6 balls with 3 wickets in hand. Everyone would have put their money on Mumbai Indians for sure but Munaf Patel had different ideas. He bowled a superb last over giving away just 1 run taking 1 wicket and there were 2 run outs effected. The over had all the drama that you would expect in T20 but for Mumbai it was once again a Heartbreak . It had happened last year too when Mumbai Indians lost to Kings 11 of the last ball. Last time it might have been the brilliance of Yuvraj Singh but this time Mumbai Indians had themselves to blame.
It was once again a match where the Chargers were on course to a victory but gifted it to the DareDevils in the end.Gilchrist won the toss and decided to field first which was strange as they have always been posting scores and then trying to defend them . Maybe there was something for the bowlers and Vaas struck in his first over when Warner tried to hit one out of the park but only managed to get it to the midoff fielder Venugopal Roa.Dilshan came in and played 2 handsome shots to boundaries and in the next over Rohit Sharma dropped the simplest of catches that you would ever get. RP got one to bounce sharply which caught the glove and should have been taken and it proved to be costly as Dilshan plundered the next over from Shoaib for 20 runs. But finally he got out to a good running catch from Ravi Teja of Symonds.Gambhir was looking out of sorts at the other end and could only manage 19 before Ojha got him. Sehwag was back for this match and came in was dropped by Symonds of Smith..It was a dolly and it was hard to believe that a fielder like symonds had dropped it. But the Chargers didnt have to wait long as Sehwag was caught by the same man Symonds of Vaas. AB and Karthik came together and got the score past 130 before AB was out to Smith. Bhatia tried to hit one out of the park of the very ball he faced from Ojha and could only manage to get himself out. Karthik was the only hope to get Delhi past 150 and what a knock from the keeper !!!!!! Delhi didnt get 150 but they got 173 thanks to 23 runs which came of the last over of Vaas where Karthik was at his supreme best.