18th April, 2009
RCB 133-8 (20.0 overs) beat Rajasthan Royals 58 (15.1 overs)
Rahul Dravid 66. Rajasthan Royals 58 all out.
We couldn't have asked for a better start to our IPL 2 campaign!
Of course, after the first over of the match, the joke might well have been on us. KP was beaming when he won the toss and chose to bat, probably hoping that Jesse, Robin and Rosco would tonk a few balls into the Table Mountain.
From a distance, Dimitri Mascarenhas's dobblers don't look like collateral damage material but four balls later both our power-hitter New Zealanders were cooling their heels. KP survived the hat-trick, and promptly dumped the next ball to the midwicket fence.
Rahul arrived three overs later, and began with some delightful flicks. But with Kevin gone an over later, it was time for the Shane Warne show. With its requisite drama.
In a tantalising spell, he got both Virat and Akhil bowled with flighted turners, and almost made Rahul nick a delivery that pitched on off and whizzed away when he lunged forward to defend. Ball of the match it was.
Having survived, he creamed Henderson thrice through the offside to bring up his fifty and guide us to a defendable 133.
Praveen then played tit-for-tat, snaring Asnodkar in the 1st over and getting Graeme Smith to edge to slip in the 3rd.
So tight were the opening spells that we didn't have to make a trip to the boundary ropes till the 7th over. By then, the match was snugly in our pockets barring carnage courtesy Yusuf Pathan .
As it turned out, it was the Jumbo special as Rajasthan reveled in providing us with catching practise. Yusuf, Jadeja and Munaf Patel heaved to no avail and Anil finished with his first five-for in T20.
And like the googly that Warne had no clue about, Rajasthan were well and truly stumped.
Highlights of that awesome spell can be found here:
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