As it happened: Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors

PWI 125-9 after 20 overs Kartik 8, Nehra 9 Wow. Easy, easy 45-run win for Rajasthan. Their batting was good but their bowling lead by the unheralded Ajit Chandimal, who got four wickets including a hat-trick was superb. Pune never had a chance. Ganguly has run out of magic. He should have rested himself again. PWI 112-9 after 18 overs R Sharma c Rahane b Watson 0 (3b) What a catch!!!!!!!! A relay catch!!!! Botha caught it, lost control and then threw it back in, where Rahane took it!!! The fielding in the IPL has been splendid. Assist to Botha, Goal to Rahane. PWI 110-8 after 17.2 overs AD Mathews c Rahane b Watson 23 (19b 1x4) 61 off 16 need to win. Haven’t seen such a one-sided IPL game in a while now. Mathews goes for the big shot. caught well by Rahane in the deep at long-on. PWI 106-7 after 16.2 overs B Kumar b Tait 3 (5b) That was quick and straight and it sent the stumps for a walk. PWI 89-6 after 14.1 overs SPD Smith c Hodge b Botha 37 (31b, 5x4) pune are hanging in there but for how much longer? As things stand, they need another 82 runs with 4 wickets and 35 balls remaining. Smith went for the big shot and was caught well in the deep. PWI 60-5 after 10.1 overs C Ferguson lbw b Botha 23 (26b, 2x4) Pitched off, hit in front of leg…..had to be out!!! Fifth wicket down and in desperate need of quick runs. PWI have no option but to continue to go for it. PWI 60-4 after 10 overs Ferguson 23, Smith 16 Slow and steady. PWI are trying not to lose wickets. Not like they have an option. Another wicket and they will be in trouble. They might not even last 20 overs here. PWI 26-4 after 4.5 overs AP Majumdar c & b Chandila 9 (8b 2x4) PWI 26-4. Yay. This should get over early, we can then watch F1 and EPL!!! Another wicket for Chandila. The ball was well flighted and Majumdar was just beaten in the air. PWI getting beaten by a rookie here. Off twitter, @mohanstatsman: Ajit #Chandila 28 yr old from Faridabad Haryana. Played Ranji for Haryana (in just 2 games in 2010). Playing his just 2nd IPL game! PWI 11-3 after 2.1 overs RV Uthappa st Goswami b Chandila 6 (6b, 1x4) That’s a hat-tick for Chandila!!!! Ryder, Ganguly off the fifth and sixth balls of the first over and now Uthappa!!! The ball went straight on with the arm and Uthappa just played inside the line and was stumped. Great bowling. It’s the first hat-trick in this year’s IPL. PWI 3-2 after 1 overs SC Ganguly st Goswami b Chandila 2 (4b) Two wickets in two balls and PWI are already on the back foot. Ryder was out first, off the fifth ball of the over and then Ganguly was smartly stumped by Goswami. It’s going to be kind of tough from this point on. RR 170-4 after 20 overs Binny 6, Botha 7 In the end, RR may not have got as huge a total as they thought they would get. Watson and Rahane played good knocks but no one else got going. Tait has been bowling brilliantly – in fact he is the most economical bowler in the IPL this year and he will need to lead the charge of the RR bowlers. Remember RR need this win more than PWI. RR 145-2 after 17 overs Rahane 51, Hodge 12 RR have gone on and on. And come what may, they are going to post a formidable total. Someone in Pune will have to bat pretty well tonight if they want to even get close to the RR total. RR 123-2 after 14.3 overs SR Watson b Nehra 58 (31b, 6x4, 4x6) Nehra’s yorker gets Watson but the damage has been done. Superb hitting by the Australian has ensured that RR will go into the last five overs with the freedom to try anything without any fear. RR 89-1 after 11 overs Rahane 28, Watson 38 Rahane has settled into the anchor role even as Watson has sped away to 38 off 20 balls. He hit two consecutive sixes off Murali Kartik and then handed a fair bit of punishment to Rahul Sharma too. RR 61-1 after 9 overs Rahane 24, Watson 14 Still no great acceleration but the Royals do have a great platform. Pune’s bowling attack isn’t great and if Watson or Rahane get going, RR could still put on more than a decent total. RR 51-1 after 7 overs Rahane 15, Watson 13 Watson has settled in quickly and that’s good news for RR, espcially when you remember the carnage that he caused in the last game against Pune. Rahane hasn’t quite got going but the longer he stays there, the more dangerous he becomes. RR 29-1 after 4.3 overs R Dravid c Uthappa b Nehra 21 (20b, 4x4) Gone. RR 29-1 Dravid is gone after making 21 off 20 balls. Good catch by Uthappa, diving to his left and taking it low, off Nehra. Next man in is Shane Watson. RR 29-0 after 4 overs Rahane 6, Dravid 21 And just like that, Rahane and Dravid have got their side off to a decent start. They have made a habit of this and it allows the rest of the batsmen to play their game without worrying about wickets. RR 13-0 after 2 overs Rahane 0, Dravid 11 Slow start by RR. Rahane has faced 3 balls and is yet to get off the mark. Dravid has hit a wonderfully timed four on the leg-side. But other than that, not much to report. Pre-game Rahul Dravid wins the toss and RR are going to bat first. It’s pretty cloudy in Jaipur but the pitch is pretty dry, not too much grass the RR skipper thought and that’s why he chose to bat. “This track looks a little bare, looks like it will get slower as the game progresses,” said Dravid. [caption id=“attachment_307693” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Dada rested himself in the last game. AFP”] [/caption] At the other end, there is a familiar rival and friend – Sourav Ganguly is back. He is once again leading the side and with Ganguly you can never say never. But Pune have just three foreigners playing for them today. Ashish Nehra continues to play as does Rahul Sharma. Squads Rajasthan Royals R Dravid*, AM Rahane, SR Watson, SP Goswami†, AL Menaria, BJ Hodge, STR Binny, J Botha, SW Tait, SK Trivedi, A Chandila. Pune Warriors team JD Ryder, SC Ganguly*, RV Uthappa†, CJ Ferguson, AP Majumdar, AD Mathews, SPD Smith, B Kumar, R Sharma, M Kartik, A Nehra.