Rajasthan have virtually secured a semi-final spot by winning their eighth match out of ten. Today’s victory has been emphatic, by a margin of 65 runs. They set it up with a sold batting performance - Smith and Asnodkar scored fifties and Watson contributed as well to set a target of 198.
Their bowlers came out strongly and reduced Bangalore to 5 for 3 to effectively end Bangalore’s challenge. Dravid played a sole hand - scoring 75 off 36 balls . Kallis’ painful 20 off 29 balls was the next highest score.
Bangalore were appalling today: their bowling was haphazard, they bowled far too short and on both sides of the wicket. They managed to take only one Rajasthan wicket but they could have had a few more if their fielding and catching wasn’t so sloppy. Their batsmen came out without a plan and didn’t even begin to make a fight of the chase.
Dravid wins the award for the most sixes.
Dravid: “We were outplayed. It was a great effort from them to get to 197. I don’t think we fielded or bowled well. We needed a start like they got and after we were 5 for 3 we were always chasing the game.”
Warne receives the purple cap for becoming the highest wicket-taker of the tournament. He thinks Watson is the player of the tournament so far and credits Smith and Asnodkar for a fantastic partnership at the top.
Graeme Smith is the Man of the Match for his 75 off 49 balls. He batted through the 20 overs in the extreme heat. No wonder he didn’t come out to field at the start of the run-chase.
