Bowlers hand Rajasthan easy win

Rajasthan Royals moved to the top of the table with a convincing seven-wicket win over Bangalore Royal Challengers, who looked out of depth as they were bowled out for 105 - the tournament's second lowest total - and conceded the win inside 15 overs. Naman Ojha scored his second consecutive half-century in the brief chase but the win was set up by Amit Singh and Ravindra Jadeja, who took seven Bangalore wickets to ensure a low target for their side.

The difference lay in how the two sets of bowlers exploited the bounce offered by the Centurion pitch; Bangalore's couldn't, Rajasthan's did to perfection. Bangalore used the short ball only after the strategy break, by which time the required run-rate was down to below five an over.

Shane Warne won a good toss and chose to field on a new pitch that had received rain overnight. Unlike in the last few games where he opened with spin from one end, he chose to give his fast bowlers a chance to exploit the conditions. Like the spinners, though, the fast bowlers gave favourable returns in their first spells. Batsmen found it difficult to counter the bounce when they tried to cut or pull though poor shot selection accounted for two of the first three wickets.

Amit struck first in the third over: Wasim Jaffer, who had been dropped by Amit in the previous over, drove a fuller delivery away from his body and popped a catch to cover. Jacques Kallis, after flicking a six off his pads from Munaf Patel, stepped out to a shorter delivery and top-edged a pull to Niraj Patel, who took the catch running from deep backward square leg to deep midwicket. Soon after, Rahul Dravid chased a Lee Carseldine delivery going down leg and gloved a catch behind for a duck.

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Prime Numbers

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3.50
Amit Singh's economy rate for the tournament, the best among bowlers who've taken wickets. Singh has seven wickets
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60
Naman Ojha's tournament average, the highest among Rajasthan's batsmen
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30
The second-biggest margin of victory this season, in terms of balls remaining (the biggest is Deccan's win over Kolkata with 41 balls to spare)
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10
Number of overs in which Bangalore scored less than 5 runs
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35
Number of run-outs in the tournament so far

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Spin came into the picture in the eighth over when Warne brought himself on, and the steady fall of wickets continued. Robin Uthappa, Bangalore's top scorer with 17, survived a leg-before appeal in that over but fell off the first ball of the next, trapped plumb in front by Jadeja. Bangalore were reeling at 40 for four, which could have been five had Ojha collected a chance from Virat Kohli. The strategy break did them no good, Mark Boucher falling five balls after the re-start; he tried to cut an arm ball pitched full and just outside off from Jadeja, got cramped for room and was bowled for six.

Jadeja got Kohli next, outside-edging one that was pitched short and wide and Morkel holding on to a low diving catch behind point. The fast bowlers then returned to wrap up the innings as the last four wickets fell for 20 runs.

Bangalore bowled too many wide deliveries for a side defending such a low total and picked up their first two wickets as Rajasthan looked to wrap up the game quickly. Graeme Smith, after driving two fours each off Praveen Kumar and Dillon du Preez, stepped out to Jacques Kallis and was bowled after swinging and missing at a length delivery. Carseldine was given out after a mix-up with Naman Ojha saw the two batsmen at the bowler's end. Ojha made up for the dismissal with a massive six off Roelof van der Merwe in the next over Rajasthan went into the strategy break needing 44 with eight wickets in hand.

After the break Yusuf Pathan, Rajasthan's go-to batsman, and Ojha resisted the temptation to score off the short ball till du Preez returned to the attack. Pathan drove Kallis through cover for four and Ojha hit Vinay Kumar for a six over long-off. But Pathan fell, with Rajasthan needing only 15 more, when he tried to pull du Preez for a second time to fine leg and got a top edge instead. However, Rajasthan needed just two and a half an over by then and Ojha hit two fours and a six to wrap it up in the next over.

Rajasthan thrash Punjab to go second

Two changes, one of them a tactical masterstroke, made their impact in the very first over of each innings to hand Rajasthan Royals an imposing 78-run win against Kings XI Punjab, and propel them - in an intensely fluid tournament - to second place on the points table. The match was effectively decided in three overs: the first of Rajasthan's innings, when Naman Ojha hammered 16 off Ramesh Powar; the penultimate, when Sreesanth went for 23, and the first over of Punjab's innings when Amit Singh, playing his first Twenty20 game, took two wickets, including one off the first ball.

Rajasthan have stayed in this tournament through their bowling but managed today to rectify the blips in their erratic top order to build on a solid opening stand between Ojha - promoted for this game - and Graeme Smith. If Rajasthan got their tactics right, Punjab certainly did not, undermining their decision to field in seaming conditions by opening with a spinner. Powar was punished for 16 in the first over as Ojha, using his feet to counter the flight, smashed two sixes over long-on. Seven balls into the game and Rajasthan had equalled their highest opening partnership of 20 in this year's tournament - the first wicket had reached double figures just once in seven matches .

Though Yuvraj Singh realised his miscalculation and immediately reverted to pace the momentum had been seized. Smith and Ojha timed their innings superbly, latching on to any available opportunity and presumably heightening the sense of regret in the opposing captain for gifting them the initiative.

Ojha adapted to the conditions perfectly after the fielding restrictions were lifted. He combined his naturally aggressive flow with some deft touches, late-cutting Piyush Chawla for a boundary and following that up with an even more delicate dab wide of third man off Abdulla to put on display his varied repertoire of strokes.

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Prime Numbers

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23
The runs conceded by Sreesanth in his fourth over, the second-worst over of the IPL in terms of runs conceded
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260
The total number of sixes so far in the tournament, including the 12 hit in this game
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10
The number of batsmen out stumped so far
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70.14
The percentage of runs scored by Rajasthan in boundaries against Punjab in today's game
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1
The number of overs when the Rajasthan batsmen failed to find the fence
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275.00
Ravindra Jadeja's strike-rate today - the best so far for batsmen who have scored a minimum of 25 runs in a single innings

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Smith's innings marked a contrast to his guarded approach against Delhi Daredevils, when, struggling for form, he took a backseat to Yusuf Pathan's monstrous onslaught that won them the game. Here, he led the charge, smashing Powar for a six in the eleventh over, and finding the gaps in the leg-side consistently, favouring the short-fine and the midwicket region, and using the slog-sweep and the clip off the pads to good effect. The pair used their feet against spinners - Ojha charging down the pitch, and Smith favouring the sweep - to dent the tournament's main bowling weapon, and adding 135, the best opening stand this IPL.

Punjab sensed a comeback with three quick wickets, including the two openers and Yusuf Pathan, who entertained a sizable crowd with 7-ball cameo, and appeared within reach of restricting Rajasthan to around 180. But Ravindra Jadeja ensured there was no shift in momentum, with a blistering 33. Much of that came off the penultimate over from Sreesanth, returning from a three-month injury layoff - he overstepped twice, was dispatched for a six and a four over the leg-side field, and was left infuriated when a thick edge beat the keeper to the boundary to take Rajasthan past 200.

Yuvraj's opening gambit failed with the bowling and his batsmen failed to compensate. Amit, an unknown commodity on the international circuit from Gujarat, had a dream start with Sunny Sohal's wicket off his first ball. Karan Goel, given another go after a poor run of scores, belied the faith by holing out at deep square-leg while attempting an ugly swipe off the final ball.

Strategy, or the lack of it, failed Punjab yet again as Yuvraj kept himself off the top order, coming in at No 6 - by which time the match had been decided. Three more wickets in four overs sealed their fate as Kumar Sangakkara, Simon Katich and Mahela Jayawardene each fell while attempting to salvage an improbable chase. Eventually it was left to their captain to lessen the damage to his team's net run-rate and limit the humiliation.

Punjab's problems at the top of the order have resurfaced, while Rajasthan appear to have fixed theirs. More worrying, though, is Punjab's bowling as the failure of Abdulla and their spinners let them down at a crucial phase in the tournament.