The second match of the IPL again saw Lalit Modi spin the coin during the toss. Pietersen won the toss and he decided to bat first.
Rajasthan Royals got off to a dream start with Dimitri Mascarenhas picking up two wickets of two balls in the first over of the match. The New Zealand sensation Jesse Ryder had a disastrous IPL beginning, inside edging the ball to the keeper. Ross Taylor followed him the very next ball. He walked across his stumps and was bowled around his legs.
Pietersen and Uthappa looked like reconstructing the innings until Mascarenhas came back to claim his third wicket. Uthappa trying to put one over the long on boundary skied the ball to the keeper Rawat.
Before Dravid could settle down for a partnership with Pietersen, the English dasher headed back to the pavilion. Pietersen was caught brilliantly by Niraj Patel off Henderson's bowling after failing to keep a pull down.
The other side of the strategy break saw the Royals captain Shane Warne enter the bowling attack. He picked up a wicket in just his fifth ball, making Kohli out of his crease and bowling him with a flighted delivery. Akhil was soon to follow. He lost his wicket to the spin wizard who again got the better of the batsman with his flight.
While Dravid firmly stood his ground, fall of wickets on the other end did not get the Challengers going. Lusty blows at the end by Dravid and Vinay Kumar saw the Royal Challengers reach a score of 133. In pursuit of quick runs, Dravid departed after scoring a well carved 66.
The Challengers started off well with Praveen Kumar swinging the ball and picking up Asnodkar. The South African captain Graeme Smith took the long walk back after edging a Praveen Kumar's swinging ball to the safe hands of Dravid in the first slip.
Jesse Ryder joined the action and he again picked up a wicket in his first over dismissing Niraj Patel. Ryder took his second wicket when he bowled Henderson. Tight fielding by the Royal Challengers resulted in the run out of Mascarenhas. At the call of Strategy break, Rajasthan were in deep trouble managing to score only 32 runs after losing half their side.
Post break, big hitting by Pathan and Jadeja kept the tempo up for Rajasthan after the required run rate crept above 10. Just when things were falling in place, the old war horse Anil Kumble struck. he removed Pathan and Jadeja of consecutive balls and ended the over with a double wicket maiden. Still not finished, Kumble's third over saw him dismiss the Royals captain Shane Warne and Munaf Patel. He finished off the Royals by dismissing the tail ender Kamran Khan. Kumble finished with a five-for, his figures reading 3.1 overs - 1 maiden - 5 wickets - 5 runs.
The Karnataka duo of Dravid and Kumble, assisted by tight fielding and good catching, won the match for the Bangalore Royal Challengers against the 2008 IPL champions - Rajasthan Royals.
Man of the match:
Rahul Dravid was given the award for his crucial innings of 66 runs.
Interesting facts:
Four bowlers (Mascarenhas, Warne, Praveen Kumar and Ryder) took wickets in their first over in today's match.
Kumble's bowling figures happen to be the most economical bowling in an IPL match.
Rajasthan could only score 58 runs which happens to be the lowest score in an IPL match.
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