By IANS,
Bangalore : Rajasthan Royals were no match for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the flood-lit M. Chinnaswamy stadium here as the game ended in anti-climax, the hosts winning by ten wickets with plenty to spare here Thursday night.
Set to score just 93 runs, Royal Challengers cruised to a facile victory in 10.4 overs without losing a wicket, as both the in-form openers Jacque Kallis (44) and Manish Pandey (42) toyed with the Rajasthan attack.
With seven extras from wide balls, Pandey and Kallis wrapped up the one-sided match easily, the closest the pair came to getting separated was when young Pandey survived a close appeal for a catch that Morne Morkel scooped.
Chasing the lowest score in this edition, the openers reached the target scoring around nine runs an over.
“RCB won the battle even before it got underway,” quipped S. Vijaya Kumar, an architect from Bangalore, who had mixed feelings after the match, as he could not get to see a real battle between the two ‘Royals’.
Playing at home their second game, an upbeat Royal Challengers bundled out Rajasthan for 92 in 19.5 overs, with medium-pacer Praveen Kumar picking up a hat-trick, the first in the IPL III, skipper Anil Kumble taking three wickets and all-rounder Kallis two.
Two Rajasthan batsmen, Yusuf Pathan and Munaf Patel, both from Gujarat, were run out by Virat Kholi and Rahul Dravid.
Put in to bat, Rajasthan Royals made a sedate start scoring only 30 runs in the first five overs and losing three wickets in the next three overs.
Swashbuckling Pathan hit two mighty sixes to raise the hopes of Rajasthan, putting up a defendable score, more so after he survived twice when Dravid and Vinay Kumar dropped difficult catches.
When a quick throw by Kohli ran out Pathan in the 15th over after a 38-run partnership with Damien Martyn, the writing on the wall was clear.
This is the third consecutive defeat for Rajasthan Royals who came to Bangalore after losing to Mumbai Indians and to Delhi Daredevils.
A confident Royal Challengers who bounced back with a victory over Kings XI Punjab by eight wickets Tuesday after losing the opening game to Knight Riders in Kolkata, will now fly to Mumbai to play against Mumbai Indians Saturday.
Wounded by injuries and poor batting and bowling form, Rajasthan Royals will go back to Ahemdabad for a do-or-die battle against Knight Riders, also Saturday.
For the second consecutive time, Kallis won the man of the match and received the award from RCB owner and business tycoon Vijay Mallya.