Watson stars in thumping Rajasthan win

Rajasthan Royals 138 for 3 (Watson 61*, Smith 49) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 135 for 8 (Taylor 44) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out

Rajasthan Royals continued to surge up the points table by beating Bangalore Royal Challengers comprehensively by seven wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium to draw level with the Chennai Super Kings with three wins each. The win was set up by their bowlers, after Shane Warne decided to field, who restricted Bangalore to 135, allowing the batsmen to chase at a comfortable pace.

The contest wasn't too dissimilar to the one between the Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata earlier in the day, where Chennai completed an easy win after their bowlers kept Kolkata to 147. Having been put in on a pitch with a bit of assistance for the fast bowlers, Bangalore, perhaps taking cue from Brendon McCullum's 158, felt that being positive was the way to go but several aerial shots resulted in a flurry of wickets.

Bangalore were forced to play catch up right from the start, a predicament brought about by their batsmen's urge to attack. Rahul Dravid was the first of the top four batsmen to get caught in the deep square of the wicket. He pulled his first ball, off Shane Watson, straight to Ravindra Jadeja at long leg. Two overs later, Shivnarine Chanderpaul tried to pull too but the ball took the top edge and found Jadeja, this time at third man.

Ross Taylor briefly threatened to repeat McCullum's heroics: he hit Sohail Tanvir for two sixes in his first over - the first over the bowler's head followed by an edge which flew over the third-man boundary - and two fours in his second. Munaf Patel came into the attack and Taylor lofted him over midwicket for four, bettered that with a six next ball and then edged to the third-man boundary to take 15 off the over. The Bangalore batsmen, ridiculed by many as a Test XI, seemed to be proving a point. However, just when they looked in command, Jacques Kallis stepped out to Siddharth Trivedi and pulled straight to Munaf on the deep square leg boundary. The crippling blow came when Taylor fell in identical fashion, pulling to Graeme Smith to reduce Bangalore to 65 for 4.

The spate of wickets didn't curb the stroke play and Virat Kohli, India's Under-19 captain, was fortunate to survive a catch on the deep midwicket boundary. Jadeja held on splendidly to the skier that was sailing over his head but, while trying to gain control, he hit the ground and touched the advertisement hoardings, making it a six instead. However, Kohli didn't capitalise and nicked one to the wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat while trying to make room and cut.

Warne had instant success when he brought himself in the 12th over. Mark Boucher got an inside-edge onto the pads, and Rawat dived to pouch after the ball after ballooned in the air. At 78 for 6, it was left to Praveen Kumar, the India allrounder, to salvage the situation.

Praveen relied on big hits to boost the total, and he did it with success, and sometimes with luck. A thick top edge off an attempted slog off Warne cleared the short straight boundary but Praveen showed that he could hit cleanly too by depositing the next ball into the stands at midwicket. He went on to score 34, a knock that ensured Bangalore played out their overs.

A target of 136 meant than Bangalore had to strike early to have any chance of a successful defense. Praveen had Rawat caught behind early and dismissed Yusuf Pathan with a bouncer, which was top-edged so high in the air that Mark Boucher had to run towards fine leg to take the catch.

Two early wickets gave Bangalore a sniff but Smith emphasised how crucial his presence at the top order was for Rajasthan with a sensible innings. Against the Deccan Chargers, Smith batted aggressively because Rajasthan were chasing 200 plus but today he focused on staying at the crease.

Along with Watson he stabilised the innings, and soon Dravid had to turn to Anil Kumble, who was playing his first game in the IPL. Watson, though, greeted him with two pulled fours, and when victory was almost certain, he cut loose against Praveen taking 26 runs off an over which read 4, 6, 4, 4, 4, 4. One was left wondering where all the fielders were for the ball raced to the boundary without a Bangalore shirt in sight.

Smith fell one short of his fifty, holing out to long-on, while attempting a third consecutive four off Sunil Joshi but Watson and Mohammad Kaif completed the chase with 17 balls to spare.