They said it was a fluke when Rajasthan Royals won the inagural edition of IPL back in 2008 something similar will be repeated if this cheapest team in the tournament go on to do something similar. Play-offs are over a month away but the way Royals are playing, like a team of less famous but spirited cricketer, they are certainly one of the contenders..
Today, Deccan Chargers had put up a hefty total on board, 196, batting first but Royals came out all guns blazing and continued to fire till their crossed their victory hurdle with 2 balls remaining. Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane, the best opening pair of the IPL 2012 so far, collected 62 runs inside the powerplays before Danile Christian made the break-through. Ashok Menaria and Owais Shah perished trying to keep the tempo going but real work was done by Rahane who demoralised the spinners and also crossed 300 runs in the tournament so far.
Brad Hodge came in to bat when asking rate had blown over two runs a ball but Aussie discharge kept a cool hear, took match into the last over and finished it in style.
Earlier, Deccan Chargers, playing only their 3rd game of the season, proved it was a batting beauty at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, with their openers smasing 94 runs from first 10.4 overs and then JP Duminy scoring a 24 balls half century. Sadly, visitors went on to lose their 3rd consecutive match.
| Deccan Chargers innings (elected to bat) |
| Batsman |
|
R |
B |
4s |
6s |
| Kumar Sangakkara |
c Yagnik b Hodge |
44 |
32 |
5 |
1 |
| Shikhar Dhawan |
c Hodge b Trivedi |
52 |
43 |
8 |
0 |
| Daniel Christisn |
not out |
29 |
19 |
2 |
1 |
| JP Duminy |
not out |
58 |
26 |
3 |
5 |
| Bharat Chipli |
|
|
|
|
|
| Tanmay Mishra |
|
|
|
|
|
| Abhishek Jhunjhunwala |
|
|
|
|
|
| Ankit Sharma |
|
|
|
|
|
| Amit Mishra |
|
|
|
|
|
| Dale Steyn |
|
|
|
|
|
| Anand Rajan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Extra : |
13 (lbyes=2, wides=11) |
| Total : |
196 runs in
20 overs for
2 wicket. RR = (
9.80 ).
|
| Fall of wickets : 1-94 (Sangakkara, 10.4ov), 2-108 (Dhawan, 13.1ov) |
| Bowler |
Overs |
Maiden |
Runs |
W |
Extra |
| Pankaj Singh |
3 |
0 |
37 |
0 |
|
| Amit Singh |
4 |
0 |
55 |
0 |
4 wides |
| Johan Botha |
4 |
0 |
29 |
0 |
|
| Sidharth Trivedi |
4 |
0 |
27 |
1 |
1 wide |
| Brad Hogg |
4 |
0 |
33 |
0 |
|
| Brad Hodge |
1 |
0 |
13 |
1 |
|
| Rajasthan Royals innings (target = 197 from 20 overs) |
| Batsman |
|
R |
B |
4s |
6s |
| Rahul Dravid |
b Christian |
42 |
24 |
7 |
1 |
| Ajinkya Rahane |
c Christian b Mishra |
44 |
31 |
5 |
1 |
| Ashok Menaria |
c Duminy b Mishra |
22 |
20 |
1 |
1 |
| Owais Shah |
c Jhunjhunwala |
12 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
| Brad Hodge |
not out |
48 |
21 |
6 |
2 |
| Johan Botha |
c T Mishra b Rajan |
14 |
9 |
0 |
1 |
| Dishant Yagnik |
not out |
9 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
| Brad Hogg |
|
|
|
|
|
| Amit Singh |
|
|
|
|
|
| Sidharth Trivedi |
|
|
|
|
|
| Pankaj Singh |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Extra : |
6 (wides=5, noball=1) |
| Total : |
197 runs in
19.4 overs for
5 wicket. RR = (
10.01 ).
|
| Fall of wickets : 1-62 (Dravid, 5.5 ov), 2-110 (Menaria, 11.6 ov), 3-121 (Rahane, 13.2 ov), 4-135 (Shah, 15.2 ov), 5-172 (Botha, 18.1 ov) |
| Bowler |
Overs |
Maiden |
Runs |
W |
Extra |
| Ankit Sharma |
4 |
0 |
33 |
0 |
1 wide |
| Dale Steyn |
3.4 |
0 |
44 |
0 |
|
| Daniel Christian |
4 |
0 |
43 |
1 |
2 wides |
| Anand Rajan |
4 |
0 |
45 |
1 |
1nb, 1wd |
| Amit Mishra |
4 |
0 |
32 |
3 |
1 wide |
