It was a night everything went right for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Praveen Kumar took a hat-trick, their captain Anil Kumble snared three wickets for a measly nine runs, Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey made batting look easy and they barely raised a sweat as they beat the Rajasthan Royals by 10 wickets. Shane Warne's Rajasthan, the first winners of the Indian Premier League, were bundled out for 92 on their way to a third consecutive defeat. Adding to their woes, Graeme Smith and Dimitri Mascarenhas have already left for home after suffering injuries.
Kumble provided the early breakthrough by removing the openers Naman Ojha (16) and the Hampshire batsman Michael Lumb (10), playing in his first IPL game. Then Kallis bowled Abhishek Jhunjhunwala for five, Yusuf Pathan was run out for 26 and Rajasthan were in deep trouble at 75 for four. It was about to get a lot deeper. With the score at 85, Kumar sent Damien Martyn's middle stump cart wheeling, Sumit Narwal fell to a juggling catch by Pandey from the next delivery and Paras Dogra's middle stump was knocked askew for the hat-trick.
With the bat, Kallis carried on from where he left two days ago. The South African thumped 89 from 55 balls in chasing down 204 against the King's XI Punjab on Tuesday, and last night he hit 44 from 34 deliveries to share an undefeated 93-run stand with Pandey as they knocked off the winning runs in 10.4 overs. Kallis's innings included seven fours and a six, while Pandey, who survived a diving low catch at mid-off by Morne Morkel, made the most of his escape with an equally entertaining 42 not out off 30 deliveries with seven fours.
Bangalore's victory was only the third by 10 wickets in IPL history, and the second biggest win in terms of balls to spare - 56. Dale Steyn was not among the wickets but bowled his four overs for 18 while Kallis took two for 20 from his four overs to clinch the man-of-the-match award. @Email:apassela@thenational.ae
Rajasthan Royals: Naman Ojha c Uthappa b Kallis 16 Michael Lumb st Boucher b Kumble 10 Damien Martyn b Kumar 19 Abhishek Jhunjhunwala b Kallis 5 Yusuf Pathan run out (Kohli) 26 Paras Dogra b Kumar 3 Sumit Narwal c Pandey b Kumar 0 Shane Warne b Kumble 4 Morne Morkel st Boucher b Kumble 2 Munaf Patel run out 0 Sidharth Trivedi not out 0 Extras: (1lb, 5w, 1nb) 7 Total (all out, 19.5 overs) 92 Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-31, 3-38, 4-75, 5-85, 6-85, 7-85, 8-91, 9-92 Bowling Praveen Kumar 3-0-15-3 Dale Steyn 4-0-18-0 R Vinay Kumar 3-0-22-0 Jacques Kallis 4-0-20-2 Anil Kumble 3.5-0-9-3 Royal Challengers Bangalore: Manish Pandey not out 42 Jacques Kallis not out 44 Extras: (7w) 7 Total (for no loss, 10.4 overs) 93 Bowling Munaf Patel 3-0-23-0 Morne Morkel 3-0-34-0 Shane Warne 2-0-12-0 Sumit Marwal 2.4-0-24-0