Royal Challengers Bangalore extended their winning streak at home with a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. RCB bowlers put on a wonderful display as RR capitulated to be bowled out for just 117. RCB chased it down as Chris Gayle anchored the run-chase and took his team past the finish line. The win took RCB to the top of the points table. Chasing a meager 118, RCB started positively as Tillakaratne Dilshan hit S Sreesanth for consecutive boundaries in the second over. He continued his assault with another couple of boundaries off James Faulkner.
RCB put on 48 runs in the power play. Shane Watson provided RR with the first breakthrough as he had Dilshan (25) caught behind. Faulkner then castled the in-form Virat Kohli (1). Watson struck again to have the dangerous AB de Villiers caught at mid-off leaving RCB at 64 for 3 in 9 overs. Chris Gayle played an uncharacteristic cautious knock anchoring the RCB innings. Saurabh Tiwary too was cautious to begin with, but broke the shackles when he bludgeoned a six off Ajit Chandila in the 15th over. Needing 16 runs off the final four overs, Tiwary went after Siddharth Trivedi hitting him for two boundaries before Gayle finished it with a six. Gayle and Tiwary put on 59 runs to see RCB home with 13 balls to spare.
Earlier in the evening RCB won the toss and opted to field. Watson got RR running with a boundary off the first delivery. Ravi Rampaul drew first blood for the hosts sending back Watson (6) caught by Murali Kartik at mid-off. Ajinkya Rahane (14) hit a boundary and a six off Rampaul's third over, before Jaydev Unadkat had him caught at point off a slower delivery. Bangalore boys, Rahul Dravid and Stuart Binny got on with the task of rebuilding the innings and put on 40 runs for the third wicket; Binny smashed Unadkat for a boundary and a six in the 8th over. R Vinay Kumar had Binny (33) top edge a pull to give RCB their third wicket. Murali Kartik dismissed Dravid (35) caught at long-off to trigger a collapse.
Vinay Kumar in the next over had Brad Hodge (13) caught behind before RP Singh struck twice, dismissing Faulkner (3) and Dishant Yagnik (5). The wickets continued to tumble as Sreesanth (0), Shaun Tait (1), and Trivedi (3) fell as RR were bundled out for 117 with two balls to spare. Man-of-the-Match: Vinay Kumar Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 117 all out in 19.4 overs (Rahul Dravid 35, RP Singh 3-13) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 123 for 3 in 17.5 overs (Chris Gayle 49*, Shane Watson 2-11) by 7 wickets.
