Rajasthan Royals win at a neutral venue

Well it was a neutral venue where he Shane Warne led Rajasthan Royals snatched a 34 run victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders. This was the first victory for the Rajasthan Royals while at the same time it was a second loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders. For a change, the match was played on a slow track which is quite rare in T20 cricket and more so when it comes to the IPL matches. Perhaps! It is due to the fact that the match was being played on a neutral venue rather than a home pitch to one of the teams out there.

If not for the opener Michael Lumb, who returned back to the pavilion without scoring, the rest if the batsmen returned with timely contribution with the bat which ensured a decent score on the board. But, if this score was compared to the team totals put up by other teams in earlier games, this total of the Rajasthan Royals stands nowhere but the end result of the match says otherwise. A total of just 168 on the board at a run rate of 8.70 an over is not a tough task atleast as far as the IPL is considered. But, at the end of the day smiles ruled Shane Warne's face.

Yousuf Pathan couldn't do much with the bat that he was expected to. But, when it came to do the same with the ball, Pathan had his full say when he bagged 2 wickets which was more than anybody else in the Rajasthan Royals' side. Luckily, this was the highest any bowler in the match was supposed to take with Ishanth Sharma, Ashok Dinda and Shane Bond joining him. The scorecard suggests a dull performance from the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers where the concentration of wickets lies in Shane Bond, Ishanth Sharma and Dinda and with Murali Karthik going waste.

Sourav Ganguly could have had the ball keeping in mind the experience that he has got in international that has made players like Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble star in their respective areas though not being included in the international squad. It was a rather slow approach by the Kolkata Knight Riders' batsmen when they couldn't chase down a modest total despite not losing wickets at regular intervals. This has been the trade,mark of the Kolkata Knight Riders wherein they keep their wickets so that they can go in for a risk at the end only to find kicking themselves at the end of the 20^th over.