Blasts in Jaipur

There are chances that the match between Rajasthan Royals and Bangalore Royal challengers might be shifted to Bangalore after 8 bomb blasts rocked the pink city, Jaipur. The Rajasthan Royals, which is based out of Jaipur is currently in Goa to keep themself fresh and energised for the rest of the tournament. Franchises will make the decision tomorrow. Rajasthan Royals met Bangalore Royal Challengers in the first leg of the IPL in Bangalore and defeated the hosts comfortably by 7 wickets.

IPL Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Daredevils

Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Daredevils to avenge their loss in the first half of the tournament. Rajasthan Royals playing at their home ground where they have not lost even a single game started of well. First Shane Warne guessed the spin of the coin correctly and choose to field. The bowlers bowled a very good line from the beginning and gave very less away. Delhi Daredevils could only manage 156, thanks to Maharoof who clubbed Shane Warne's last over ( 19th of the inning) for 27 runs including 4 sixes.
Chasing 157 to win, the Rajasthan Royals didn't start of well with score reading 15-2 in 5 overs - the lowest score in the first 5 overs of the inning so far in IPL. Smith and Man of the match Watson combined well to add 71 in next 5 overs before Smith got out. Watson continued to score freely and made 74 in 40 balls that included 5 fours and same number of sixes before he was run out. His dismissal created another controversy in the IPL. Steeve Davis, the field umpire, refused to direct the decision to third umpire and declared Watson not out. After seeing the replay on the big screen, Shewag questioned the decision and forced the umpire to go for the 3rd umpire and Watson was declared out. Emerging Media, the owner of Rajasthan Royals, have decided to file a complaint against Shewag for arguing with the umpire, not respecting the verdict of the umpire and forcing the umpire to refer the decision to the 3rd umpire. Rajasthan Royals suffered few hiccups towards the end but finally sealed the victory of the first ball of the last over. This team has showed how a team game should be played. They are sitting pretty of top of the points table and sure of a place in the semi-finals. They can now relax for 4 days in Goa and enjoy the beaches and the sun.

Final result:- Rajasthan Royals (Watson 74) defeated Delhi Daredevils (Mahroof 39) by 3 wickets with 5 balls remaining

MOM :- Shane Watson

IPL - Rajasthan Royals v/s Deccan Chargers

Rajasthan continued to impress everyone in this tournament. They thrashed Deccan Chargers by 8 wickets at Jaipur.
Chasing 141 to win, Rajasthan Royals were given great start by its opener Yusuf and Smith. Yusuf made a quickfire 68 while Smith played a good supporting role and made 40. In the first innings, Deccan Chargers were also given very good start by Gilly and Gibbsy. At one point Deccan Chargers were cruising at 97-2 in 13.2 Overs when Gilly got out and then the middle order went crashing only to be salvaged by quick fire 23 in 11 balls by Venugopal. In the last 6 Overs Deccan Chargers could only manage partlry 43 while loosing 6 wickets. Score of 140 was going to be easy on such a good pitch and was overcome by Royal Rajasthan in style with 4 overs to spare and loosing only 2 wickets.

Final result

Rajasthan Royals 141 for 2 in 16 Overs (Yusuf 68, Smith 40) beat Deccan Chargers 140 (Gilchrist 61) by eight wickets .

Man of the match : Y Pathan for his 68 in 37 balls and a wicket of Styris

IPL Rajasthan Royals v/s Chennai Super Kings result and scorecard

Venue : Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
Date : 4 May 2008 - day/night


Result Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by 8 wickets with 34 balls remaining

Chennai Super Kings

made 109 all out in 19 overs.

Rajasthan Royals

110/2 in 14.2 overs.



Man of the match :- Sohail Tanvir (Rajasthan Royals)

IPL Rajasthan Royals v/s Chennai Super Kings - Joginder Sharma drops a dolly

IPL match - Rajasthan Royals v/s Chennai Super Kings

2.5 Ntini to Smith.

Ntini bowls a short of length ball but not short enough to pull. Smith goes for a pull but ball came to him too fast. The ball takes the edge lobs up in the air to mid-on where Joginder Sharma gets under the ball to catch it. In the words of great Navjot Singh Sidhu the ball went so high that it could have kissed the air hostess.

The catch was so easy and Smith believed in the catching abilities of the T20 last over expert, Joginder Sharma that he starts the "long way back towards pavilion" but to the shock of Chennai fans, Joginder Sharma "didn't watch the ball into his hand" and drops the dolly and the match.

This reminds me of the famous line said by the great Steven Waugh to Gibbs in the world cup match where Gibbs drops the ball before controlling it and starts celebrating the wicket of Steve Waugh and Steve Waugh was rightly declared Not Out - " Mate you dropped the world cup ". Steve Waugh won the match for Australia and that win latter on decided the outcome of the famous tied semi-final match between South Africa and Australia.

Catches do win matches, But in the IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super King do you think this catch would have made a difference. I doubt !! What about you

IPL Rajasthan Royals v/s Chennai Super Kings - Best bowling performance in T20

Sohail Tanvir 4-0-14-6


Sohail Tanvir started the first over with 2 LBWs victims in the form of Stephen Flemming and Partiv Patel. Then he ended his spell with 2 more wickets. I feel nobody will be able to achieve a better figure in T20 cricket except if we get another wicket as difficult as was in Kolkota. It is ging to be very very difficult for bowler to get 6 or more wickets in T20, which is evident from the fact that nobody has taken 5 wickets in T20 before Tanvir's figure of 6 for 14.

Best figure before this performance was that of another player from Pakistan - Shahid Afridi - 4/19

Definately the Man-of-the-match performance