The Rajasthan formula for home success has been based around batting first and then defending a total and so it was a surprise to see Dravid opt to field. That said, they'd have been pleased with their early work, despite sloppy fielding throughout, as their bowlers restricted well. Gayle suddenly fell ill just before the start, your guess is as good as mine, and this saw Kohli walk to the crease alongside Dilshan to open. I thought this would be just what Kohli would need to regain his form, the first 6 being the best overs to bat in the innings, but he still didn't quite look at this best despite a couple of well timed strokes through the offside. He fell in the 4th over spooning a drive out to the man on the cover boundary, he's normally a very intelligent player and such a shot was unlike him and the sign of a man slightly low on confidence. Dilshan was also a man looking to play himself into some form and it was a really tough pitch to do so with variable bounce in particular posing problems, Dilshan came forward to a ball on a length that whistled past his helmet alarmingly, but he showed his experience to battle through and even brought out the Dilscoop. There was plenty of spin there for Brad Hogg to exploit and he started well, Agarwal holed out in his first over thanks to a good catch from Hodge and then he sent back an out of sorts Gayle, in at 4, who was trapped in front by a wrong'un, sparking Ganguly-esque celebrations not to be missed! Bangalore were at 75/3 at the end of the 12th over with Rajasthan well on top, none could have predicted the incredible turn around to follow.
AB de Villiers has had a great IPL so far and immediately made his presence known, heaving the 6th and 7th balls of his innings high over midwicket. He has became so adept at finding the gaps in the last couple of years and must be a nightmare to bowl, today he totally transformed RCB's innings, alongside Dilshan (76* from 58) whose knock was vital in getting Bangalore through a tricky start. The two of them put on an unbeaten 122 from just 50 balls to complete a remarkable turnaround to take them well past the score of around 140-150 that Dilshan said would have been very competitive. AB showed off some effortless hitting all around the ground where the rest had struggled to time the ball at all, and Rajasthan had no answers to his 59* from 23 balls. Few men this year have been able to nail that number 5 position, that often requires big hitting from ball one, but he makes it look far too easy and is every bit as important to RCB as Gayle. Hogg started well but his figures (2-39) suffered from the late blitz and Pankaj Singh bowled a good opening spell, unlucky to leave with 1-32, but Rajasthan are a still a side struggling for wickets, particularly when bowling first without the scoreboard pressure. 189/3 was never on the cards and would have come as a huge surprise to RR, they will have known at the half way mark that they'd need a minor miracle to overhaul it, eventually falling well short at 143/7.
The opening partnership of Dravid and Rahane has been the most successful of any this year and the platform they provided would have given a glimmer of hope. Dravid was the aggressor in a stand of 56, with his typically fluid off side game, as Rahane struggled to time the ball before falling for 13 attempting to clear the ropes. Despite RCB's star-studded line-up it was a relatively unknown player that grabbed the headlines and prevented a fight back from materialising, the young slow left armer Appanna bowling beautifully to take 4-19. His accuracy was relentless, sending down an impressive 14 dot balls, and found some spin from the wicket. He dismissed the Rajasthan top 4, the stumping of the dangerous Owais Shah possibly the nail in the RR coffin, and saw his side through for the win that their batting had set up. Dravid's innings (58 from 42) was a strange one as he looked a totally different player inside and out of the powerplay overs. With the field up he is able to play his more natural game, piercing the gaps with exquisite timing and elegance, but when the fielders drop back he struggles to hit big, often a case of trying to over-hit it. However, that is not his job and he was going to need to be the anchor of the chase, with Rahane, Shah or Hodge as the danger man, but this did not materialise and he was forced to go for it himself. Vettori, the more experienced RCB slow left armer, put in a disciplined performance of his own. His 4 overs went for just 20 runs and built the pressure that Appanna was able to benefit from as the RR batsman had to take him on, in that respect a promising partnership for RCB. Rajasthan's chase fell away from the end of the powerplay as the pitch proved tough to score on, it was never a 190 track and the Dilshan-de Villiers effort was simply too good.
A comfortable win for RCB and one they needed given their indifferent start, the league table is extremely tight at the moment and Bangalore will be hoping to string a few wins together to get back to the top where their impressive line-up should probably be. All the RCB overseas players are world class international players whereas none of Rajasthan's equivalent play regularly at the international level, highlighting just how impressive their campaign has been so far, and RCB looked the better side today. The Royals let themselves down a bit in the field and with the ball today, but will know that better bowlers would have got the treatment from Dilshan and de Villiers (MoM) today, who put together a great fightback to seal the game for Bangalore.
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