Kevin Pietersen's furious assault left Rajasthan Royals in a shambles at the Sawai Man Singh stadium here on Wednesday. The target was a modest 131 and Pietersen (62) ensured the early setbacks of Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey did not cause undue panic in the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s camp.
RCB won convincingly by five wickets and 26 balls to spare.
The win took RCB closer to a semifinal slot. With its tally of 14 points and a match against Mumbai Indians (at Mumbai) in hand, the Anil Kumble-led team leaves this city placed second in the points table. Rajasthan, which plays Kolkata Knight Riders at Kolkata in its last match, has 12 points and a huge challenge ahead.
The difference between the teams was driven home strongly by one express delivery from Dale Steyn that sent Yusuf Pathan's off-stump flying. That ball confirmed Steyn's intention to aim for wickets. His spell tonight was outstanding and laid the foundation for local lad Pankaj Singh to make the most of it.
Pankaj, in his first IPL III match, prospered from the faith shown by his skipper to finish with an excellent spell.
Rajasthan won the toss but not the advantage. The cheap dismissals of Michael Lumb, Amit Paunikar and Naman Ojha set the home team on the defensive.
Lumb started in style but his dismal judgement of a run gave Bangalore the opening it needed. Lumb took off despite striker Ojha not responding and failed to beat Jacques Kallis's throw to the bowling end. It was a needless dismissal as far as RR was concerned.
For Vidarbha batsman Amit Paunikar, making his IPL debut, the hook caused his downfall off the first ball he faced. And then Ojha added to the misery by wildly swinging at Pankaj Singh.
His timing had been awry right through and his dismissal placed Bangalore in a position from where it could dictate.
Even as Shane Watson tried to retrieve the situation for Rajasthan it was always going to be difficult since the bowlers bowled to their field. Watson got away with some robust shots but his tactic to attack Kallis proved his undoing.
If the Rajasthan camp expected Abhishek Jhunjhunwala to fire they were wrong. A fine running catch at mid-off by Anil Kumble ended his misery in the middle.
Bangalore was never pushed when it launched the chase. Pandey and Kallis fell cheaply but Pietersen was in sensational form as he flayed the Rajasthan attack to set up an easy victory.
He spared none and left a huge impression on the audience with his blazing innings. It was worthy of the ‘man of the match' honours.
The scores:
Rajasthan Royals: M. Lumb (run out) 9 (8b, 1x4), N. Ojha c Pandey b Pankaj 7 (9b, 1x4), A. Paunikar c Uthappa b Vinay 0 (1b), S. Watson c Pietersen b Kallis 22 (25b, 3x4), A. Jhunjhunwala c Kumble b Pankaj 13 (22b, 1x4), Y. Pathan b Steyn 11 (9b, 2x4), A. Voges (not out) 28 (27b, 3x4), A. Raut (not out) 32 (20b, 3x4, 1x6); Extras (lb-5, nb-1, w-2): 8. Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 130.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-17, 3-21, 4-53, 5-58, 6-72.
Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: Kumble 4-0-28-0, Steyn 4-0-15-1, Vinay Kumar 4-0-36-1, Pankaj 4-1-27-2, Kallis 4-0-19-1.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: M. Pandey c Y. Pathan b Trivedi 14 (13b, 3x4), J. Kallis lbw b Khan 0 (3b), K. Pietersen (run out) 62 (29b, 10x4, 2x6), R. Uthappa st Ojha b Warne 26 (21b, 2x4, 1x6), V. Kohli c Watson b Trivedi 14 (13b, 2x4), R. Taylor (not out) 10 (11b, 1x6), R. Dravid (not out) 5 (4b, 1x4); Extras (lb-1): 1. Total (for five wickets in 15.4 overs): 132.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-42, 3-102, 4-113, 5-119.
Rajasthan Royals bowling: Watson 4-0-24-0, Kamran 3-0-30-1, Trivedi 3.4-0-32-2, Voges 1-0-17-0, Warne 4-0-28-1.
