Both sides were looking to bowl first on a pitch thats known to play true throughout the course of a game and Gambhir didn't hesitate to insert the Royals. It all went according to plan to start with as the home side looked keen to self-destruct as Rajasthan's impressive openers were both ran out. Rahane went for a duck as Dravid called him through for a quick single, disappointing as I was looking forward to watching him bat again. The wall was striking it nicely but his age was evident when comfortably short attempting a 2nd after good work from Abdulla in the deep, an althletic dive to the crease was never on the cards! With the score at 62/3 in the 9th over following Goswami's dismissal RR needed a partnership and Menaria (40 from 30) and Hodge (44 from 29) did just this to set a platform at the end. They put on 64 in 39 balls, Hodge's 20/20 experience was obviously just what Menaria needed, he clearly has talent and can be very elegant at the crease but is prone to throwing his wicket away. They both fell in search of boundaries late on, Hodge caught behind going for a reverse paddle over the keeper, but had laid the foundations to reach the par score of 164/5, with the help of another late burst from Owais Shah.
RR had done well to recover and reach a very defendable score, but at the half way mark I thought KKR were favorites, particularly with their strong top 3. However, the royals made the dream start as Kallis, Gambhir and then McCullum were sent back in successive deliveries for a combined tally of 7 runs. At 8 for 3 at the start of the 3rd over the chase was almost over before it had begun. All the RR bowlers did their jobs well, I always enjoy watching their side bowl. Without any express pace, Shaun Tait struggles to get games, they take the pace off the ball and really work the opposition over with slower balls, cutters and spin. The medium pacers Singh and Trivedi were both good as was the slow left armer Chavan and Cooper halted some late hitting from Brett Lee with wickets at the death. A half century from Manoj Tiwary wasn't enough as his team mates couldn't stay with him, bowled out by the final ball of the innings for 142, over 20 runs short.
Rajasthan are usually seen as under dogs given their relative lack of world class players but really use their home advantage well, knowing exactly where to bowl to squeeze the opposition. The game was decided early on as KKR's important top 3 were worked over by Singh and Chavan, with the Hodge/Menaria partnership proving vital.
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