The fortress of Rajasthan Royals was finally breached by the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday night when they beat the Rajasthan Royals by 46 runs. Earlier, Rahul Dravid had won the toss and invited the RCB batsmen to bat first on a very good batting wicket. Chris Gayle fell ill just minutes after the toss and so Virat Kohli had to open the innings with T.Dilshan. Rahul Dravid handed over the ball to the offie Ajit Chandila and he bowled well in the powerplays not allowing the RCB batemen to get after him.But the breakthrough was provided by Pankaj Singh who dismissed Kohli for 16. Mayank Agarwal was lucky to be dropped on 1 by Stuart Binny. The fielding of the Rajasthan Royals was really poor and they gave away too many runs in the field and also did not hold on to their chances. But Mayank could not make most of his chances as he was caught on the mid wicket boundary off Hogg. The wily chinaman from Australia was on Cloud Nine when he got the price wicket of Gayle on 4. RCB were reeling at 67/3 in 11.4 overs and were looking down the barrel. This was the time when Dilshan got together with de Villiers and gave the innings the much needed momentum. de Villiers was on fire as he scored an unbeaten 59 in just 23 balls. He was well supported by Dilshan whio ended on 76 not out of 58 deliveries. RCB scored 82 in the last 5 overs and reached 189/3 in 20 overs.
Rajasthan Royals knew that they had a huge task in front of them an had to get off to a good start. Rahul Dravid was the aggressor as he scored boundaries consistently. Rahane was finding it difficult to score quickly but Dravid was doing that part of the job. Rajasthan Royals were cruising along well at 56/0 in 7 overs and were looking set to chase down the score. At this time KP Appana was introduced into the attack and he responded to his captain's call by dismissing the Orange Cap holder Ajinkya Rahane on the second ball of his first over. In his next over Appana accounted for the dangerous Owais Shah, who was out stumped on 10 of 15 balls. Rahul Dravid was fighting a lone battle as he scored a brilliant half century. But when he was out for 58, the chances of the Royals faded out too and Brad Hodge's wicket proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the Rajasthan Royals. Ultimately, they fell 46 short of the RCB score and slipped two places to 4th in the table. Apanna finished with career best figures of 4/19 and AB de Villiers was adjudged the Man Of The Match for his 59*.
RCB-189/3 (20)
Dilshan-76* (58)
de Villiers-59* (23)
RR-143/7 (20)
Dravid-58 (42)
Appana-4/19
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