Rajasthan Royals 195-2 (Ajinkya Rahane 103*, Owais Shah 60, Zaheer Khan 1-15) beat Royal challengers Bangalore 136 all out (Mayank Agarwal 34, Virat Kohli 22, Siddharath Trivedi 4-25) by 59 runs.
Ajinkya Rahane got the honours of smashing the first ton in the Indian Premier League 2012 as Rajasthan Royals blew out Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Rajasthan Royals thrashed 195 runs for the loss of just two wickets against the world class bowlers, Zaheer Khan, Vinay Kumar, Daniel Vettori and Muttiah Muralitharan. Royal Challengers Bangalore were bowled out for 136 runs with one ball to spare as Siddharath Trivedi broke the back of their batting by grabbing four wickets.
Ajinkya Rahane (Rajasthan Royals) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his thunderous knock of unbeaten 103 and moreover he created a unique record of six consecutive fours in Twenty20 cricket.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore were humiliated in front of their home crowd in the 18th match of the IPL 2012 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on April 15, 2012.
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals captain, Rahul Dravid, won the toss and initiated the innings with Rahane on a placid wicket and the first over produced two runs. Rahane was in different mood and opened his account with a four on the first ball he faced and earned nine runs in the second over. He gathered 14 runs in the fourth over with one six and two fours as Dravid was crawling at the other end. The first fifty of the innings was scored on the third ball of the eighth over and the first wicket partnership was extended to 62 in 10.2 overs as Dravid was stumped by AB de Villiers off Daniel Vettori for 25 runs.
The in-form batsman, Owais Shah came in next and joined with Rahane as the scoring rate was speeded up by the duo. It was a bad day for Sreenath Aravind as he was plundered 6 consecutive fours by Ajinkya Rahane and thus Rahane registered his name in the history books of the shortest version of the game while becoming the first ever batsman to clinch the unique feat.
Owais Shah was in the race of punishing the bowlers and collected 20 runs in the 16th over with two sixes and a four. It just looked like a rain of sixes and fours by the both batsmen and the bowlers were at their mercy as Shah completed his fifty on just 19 balls studded with 5 sixes and 3 fours and the second wicket partnership showered 121 runs in mere 8.2 overs.
Owais Shah was caught by Vinay Kumar off Zaheer Khan for 60 off 26 deliveries with 5 sixes and even fours. Rahane slaughtered the bowlers and remained unbeaten for 103 off just 60 balls assisted with 5 sixes and 12 fours as Rajasthan Royals powered 195 runs with eight wickets still in hand at the end of the 20th over.
Royal Challengers Bangalore had a reasonable start with Mayank Agarwal and Chris Gayle as the first dispatched a six on the inaugural ball of the innings. Agarwal continued with the attack and accumulated 16 runs in the third over with two sixes and a four as Gayle hit a six in the next over. Gayle got a life when he was dropped on the third ball of the fourth over as Agarwal became the first victim after scoring 34 off 21 balls with one six and three fours.
The first wicket was lost at 42 and the poor run of form continued for Gayle when he was gone for 8 runs without any addition in the total. Virat Kohli came in next and started off on a promising note by sending the ball out of the fence twice. He secured one end as Siddharath Trivedi became unplayable and the wickets started falling like nine pins. Kohli became the fourth victim for 22 as the wicket fell at 78 on 10.3 overs which turned the match on its heels.
The wickets crumbled at both ends as no batsman was able to enter in the twenties and the whole team was sent back to the pavilion for 136 runs in 19.5 overs.
Siddharath Trivedi was the star performer with the ball and clinched 4 wickets for 25 runs in four overs whereas Pankaj Singh and Amit Singh shared two wickets each as Johan Botha and Brad Hogg claimed one wicket each.
Rajasthan Royals won the match in an authoritative manner with a handsome margin of 59 runs and earned two points.
Points secured by both teams at the end of the 18th match of the IPL 2012:
Rajasthan Royals – 6 from 5 games.
Royal Challengers Bangalore – 2 from 4 games.
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