Question:

Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals – Indian Premier League 5 – Match recap – Rahane steers Royals to 59-run victory

by | earlier

Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals – Indian Premier League 5 – Match recap – Rahane steers Royals to 59-run victory
The Rajasthan Royals find themselves, once again, at the top of the Indian Premier League 2012 points table, after securing a huge 59-run victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the latter’s home city on April 15.
Both teams came into the encounter after suffering defeats in their previous matches – the Royals had conceded a 5-wicket defeat against the Kolkata Knight Riders, while the Royal Challengers were also looking to recover from a 5-wicket loss at the hands
of the Chennai Super Kings. However, it was Rahul Dravid’s men who walked away in triumph, courtesy a stellar knock by Ajinkya Rahane, and Siddharth Trivedi’s intense bowling attack.
The Royals won the toss and chose to bat first, with Dravid and Rahane opening the innings. The opening pair established a 62-run stand, which was brought to a halt in the 11th over, with Dravid’s dismissal at the hands of Daniel Vettori.
Rahane, however, managed to stick it out at the crease till the end of the innings, contributing an astonishing 103 off 60 deliveries – the first century of the current IPL season. In addition to a solid opening stand with the skipper, his performance also
included a 121-run partnership with Owais Shah (also remarkable with a contribution of 60 off 26), and a belligerent outing in the 14th over, during which he smashed six consecutive fours off the unfortunate Sreenath Aravind.
Rahane and Shah brought their side up to a comfortable 183 by the 19th over, after which the latter was caught at long-on by Vinay Kumar off Zaheer Khan. However, the damage had already been done (with a whopping 113 runs taken off the last 7
overs alone), and Brad Hodge stepped up to finish off the innings with Rahane, forming a 12-runs partnership which got the Royals up to 195 by the end of 20 overs, at the expense of a mere 2 wickets.
Zaheer Khan (4-1-15-1) and Vettori (4-0-20-1) were the only two bowlers of note in the Royal Challengers’ attack, while the remainder proved highly expensive – Aravind bled 48 in just 3 overs (owing largely to the devastating 14th over performance
 by Rahane), while  Kumar gave away 51 in 4 and Muttiah Muralitharan conceded 35 in 4.
Chasing a mammoth 196, Vettori’s men got off to a respectable start, with Mayank Agarwal (34) and a lackluster Chris Gayle (8) putting 42 runs on the board before Pankaj Singh struck in the early overs, taking out Agarwal in the 5th over, and
following that up 2 deliveries later with Gayle’s wicket.
From then onwards it was the Trivedi show, as the 29-year-old medium pacer demolished the big names in the Royal Challengers’ line-up, claiming a remarkable 4 for 25. AB de Villiers was dismissed on 6 in the 9th over, followed by Virat Kolhi who
was sent packing after a contribution of 22 off 18. Saurabh Tiwary was treated in a similar manner, sent back to the pavilion on 17, while Vettori was clean bowled on 1 in the 15th over.
Trivedi’s devastating haul left the Royal Challengers faltering at 103 for 6, and they were unable to recover from the medium-pacer’s comprehensive assault – Mohammad Kaif (14),Vinay Kumar (11), Zaheer Khan (0),Aravind (14), and Muralitharan (6) were all
disappointing, and  the Challengers’ were only able to make their way up to 136 before they were all dismissed 59 runs short of the target.
In addition to Trivedi’s impressive show, Pankaj Singh and Amit Singh also claimed 2 scalps each, while Brad Hogg and Johan Botha picked up one wicket apiece.
Rahane was awarded the Player of the Match for his stellar century, and the Royals found themselves, once again at the top of the points table, having won 3 of the 5 matches they have played.
They will be looking to continue in a similar vein as they prepare to lock horns with the Deccan Chargers in their next match, scheduled for April 17 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.