Finally, Rajasthan clicked as a unit and won a game. It was a slow wicket, perhaps one of the slowest tracks in this IPL, and Rajasthan, whose batsmen were harassed on bouncier pitches in this tournament so far, immediately looked more at home. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala led with a serene 45 to ensure Rajasthan capitalised on a solid start to end up with a very competitive 168, a total which they defended with a disciplined show from their spinners.
 Kolkata didn’t help their cause by a poor batting effort in the chase. Keeping wickets in hand is a sound ploy of course but they struggled to score runs and allowed the pressure to build up. Brad Hodge was the guiltiest of the lot. It might seem harsh for he scored almost a run-a-ball 36, but he never accelerated and allowed the chase to meander along. Hodge’s approach was even stranger, considering Angelo Mathews and Owais Shah were cooling their heels in the dressing room. Even when he was well-settled, he waited for the new batsmen to attack, which was always going to be difficult on this slow track which aided the spinners. And Sourav Ganguly, too, struggled today though unlike Hodge, he tried to go for the big shots but could rarely find his timing. It might have been a plan that Hodge would drop anchor and the others hit around him but he never adapted to the changing demands of the chase.
Rajasthan relied heavily on spin – they started with Yusuf Pathan who took out the opener Manoj Tiwary with a quick skidding delivery and later returned to take out Brad Hodge – and it paid rich dividends on this pitch. It also helped that Shane Warne finally found his mojo today – he found drift and turn to keep the batsmen honest. Hodge was content, nudging Warne around, Pujara couldn’t break free against him, and Ganguly couldn’t connect with his intended big hits. Only Pujara played with a sense of purpose, hitting four fours right away on arrival at the crease but he too was slowed down by the spinners. And the chase had derailed.
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Abhishek Jhunjhunwala plays a cool hand: With Yusuf perishing to the short delivery, it seemed Rajasthan might wobble but Jhunjhunwala ensured the runs kept coming with a responsible knock, occupying the crease from the sixth to the 18th over
Advantage  Honours even
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At the toss, Warne had reckoned that 175 would be a good total and his batsmen responded well to the captain’s call. They attacked with a plan, with one batsman looking to get after the bowling while the other rotated the strike. While Naman Ojha tried to find his touch, Faiz Fazal attacked at the start; while Jhunjhunwala settled in, Ojha attacked; and when Yusuf was new to the crease, Jhunjhunwala collected a few boundaries. Every time a wicket fell, they counterattacked. We don’t know whether all this was planned or it just transpired that way in the middle, but what the approach did was to give Rajasthan a total that they were able to defend on this slow track.
It was Fazal who set the ball rolling with his attacking approach at the top. He walked in after Michael Lumb was trapped in front by Ashok Dinda for a first-ball duck and immediately looked to get after the bowling. In the same over, he swiped for a four but it was in the third over that he really got going with three boundaries against Dinda. He thrashed down the ground, pulled across the line and swung a delivery from outside off to the square-leg boundary to make his agenda very clear.
Fazal fell soon, flat-batting Shane Bond to mid-off but Ojha took over the attacking role to collect a few muscled boundaries against Matthews. However, he was run out in the ninth over, going for the second run but failing to beat an accurate throw from Mathews at long leg. Enter Yusuf and he drove couple of boundaries but yet again fell to the short ball, mistiming his attempted pull shot.
Jhunjhunwala, though, carried on and played a serene knock filled with late cuts, on drives and nudges into gaps, to push Rajasthan on. When he fell in the first ball of the 18th over, it looked like Rajasthan might lose their way but Adam Voges freed his arms to loot 17 runs in the final over, bowled by Ishant , to charge Rajasthan to a respectable total, which proved enough in the end.
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written by Swapnil
\\ tags: IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals
In a major setback to the Rajasthan Royals, their opener Graeme Smith has been ruled out of the IPL due to a finger injury. Smith fractured his right middle finger while fielding during Monday’s match against Delhi Daredevils in Ahmedabad, and is now in a race to be fit in time for the ICC World Twenty20 which starts on April 30.
 Smith hurt himself while pulling off a diving catch to end Virender Sehwag’s onslaught on 75 in a match Rajasthan lost by six wickets. “I have a double fracture in my right middle finger, so will be missing the IPL,” Smith said on his Twitter page. “I hurt it taking the catch off Sehwag last night, when I landed my finger got hooked in the ground.”
The injury adds to the batting worries of Rajasthan, who have had a poor start to their campaign, losing their first two games. Shane Warne’s team is already missing Australian allrounder Shane Watson (busy with the Tests in New Zealand till the end of the match) and Indian allrounder Ravindra Jadeja (banned from this season’s IPL), while the big-hitting pair of Yusuf Pathan and Dimitri Mascarenhas also picked up injuries during Monday’s match.
The overseas batsmen now available for Shane Warne’s team are Hampshire’s Michael Lumb and Australian pair of Damien Martyn and Adam Voges.
This is the second finger injury Smith has picked up in little more than a month. He had hurt his little finger on the left hand during the build-up to the Eden Gardens Test in February, which kept him out of the one-dayers against India which followed.
Over the last two years, Smith has had several long-standing injury problems. He first suffered a tennis elbow injury during the IPL in India in April 2008 and that forced him to miss the last three ODIs against England the same year. He later broke his hand while facing Australia’s Mitchell Johnson in the third Test in Sydney but bravely batted in the second innings to try and save the game. He missed the subsequent ODI series and decided to delay the surgery on his injured tennis elbow until after the return series against the Australians at home last year.
written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Graeme Smith, Rajasthan Royals
A disciplined performance by the Delhi Daredevils bowlers and a blistering innings from Virender Sehwag inflicted on Rajasthan Royals their second defeat in as many games. A battling half-century from Abhishek Jhunjhunwala lent Rajasthan’s total some respectability but it was a woefully inadequate one to defend given Sehwag’s onslaught.
Rajasthan were made to regret their poor batting in the first over of the chase, as Sehwag blazed away, swinging Dimitri Mascarehnas over square leg and mid-on for two boundaries. The seamers bowled either too full or offered him the desired width to break free – Shaun Tait was cut fiercely through point, and Munaf Patel was dispatched over long-off for a six and past mid-on for a boundary in the third over.
There were a couple of moments of hope for Rajasthan. Mascarenhas returned in the fourth over to snare Gautam Gambhir, who mistimed a slower one to mid-on, and got one to move away to produce an outside edge from Tillakaratne Dilshan the next ball. The wickets made no difference to Sehwag’s approach – nor, ultimately, to Rajasthan’s fortunes – as he skied Mascarenhas when on 41 only to be dropped by Tait while running back from short fine leg – another low on what’s so far been a poor IPL for the Australian.
Having smote Mascarenhas for 10 runs off two deliveries, Sehwag proceeded to target Amit Uniyal’s medium-pacers, walloping him for six over long-off, upper-cutting him wide of third man to reach his half-century and striking through the line of a length delivery to dispatch it over long-on. The parting shot before being caught brilliantly by Graeme Smith at mid-on was a thunderous six over the bowler’s head; Delhi were 99 for 3 when he fell in the 10th over, and Dinesh Karthik, with the luxury of a set platform, saw his team through.
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The setbacks hurt: Mishra, Maharoof and Sangwan grab three crucial wickets in 21 balls to turn the tide. Ojha is bowled, Yusuf Pathan holes out to long-on and Graeme Smith is caught while trying to pull.
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No stopping Sehwag: The wickets make no difference to Sehwag’s approach, as he stars with a blistering innings of 75 off 34 balls, falling only in the 10th over with the score on 99 and the win virtually sealed.
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Rajasthan, who wore black arm-bands in memory of the victims of a bus accident in Sawai Madhopur district, had begun positively after Gambhir had put them in. But they were dented by a testing first spell from Dirk Nannes and the early introduction of Amit Mishra, leaving an inexperienced middle order to contend with a determined display from the rest of Delhi’s bowlers who gave little opportunity to open up.
The conditions in Ahmedabad were hardly favourable with the dust from the parking lots surrounding the stadium kicking in, and adding to the haze from the floodlights. The surge of moths, flying across the pitch as well as the outfield, proved another irritant.
Swapnil Asnodkar and Smith, cashing in on some overpitched bowling from Farveez Maharoof, smacked two boundaries off the first three balls of the match. Nannes, like against Kings XI Punjab, continued to trouble the batsmen with his ability to generate bounce, even from bowling on a good length. He got rid of Asnodkar with his second delivery, which was sliced towards Dilshan who took a good low catch, and followed up with two snorters to Naman Ojha, one striking him on the shoulder.
Ojha, who had some success while opening the batting for Rajasthan in the previous IPL, resumed the attack after a momentary lull, thrashing Maharoof over mid-on and edging him over the slips. He reserved special treatment for Mishra, brought on in the fourth over, cutting and sweeping him for two boundaries and launching him into the stands over long-on. But Mishra undid him with his first variation of the over, slipping in the googly to bowl him through the gate as he tried to loft him over the covers.
With Yusuf Pathan lasting just five deliveries, failing to pick a slower delivery and holing out to long-on, and the experienced Smith following soon after to make it 50 for 4, Rajasthan were starting at a bleak prospect.
Paras Dogra, who had partnered Yusuf during his ruthless ton against Mumbai, and Jhunjhunwala, returning from the ICL, saw off a quiet phase during a nagging couple of overs from Pradeep Sangwan and Sarabjit Ladda; Rajasthan, at one stage, had played out 38 deliveries without a boundary. Replacing Yo Mahesh, Ladda varied his pace well, often surprising the batsmen with the quicker delivery but had his figures disturbed when the pair had stepped up, both hammering him for two sixes in a 17-run over.
Delhi saw to it they didn’t give too much away, with the run-outs of Dogra and Mascarenhas in successive overs. Jhunjhunwala, though, struck two boundaries off Nannes in the final over, reaching his fifty, to give his bowler’s more than an outside chance. Sehwag, however, ensured it was washed away.
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written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Delhi Daredevils, IPL, Rajasthan Royals
The second-fastest Twenty20 hundred, a 37-ball assault from Yusuf Pathan, as delicate as it was brutal, wasn’t enough on a day in which precious little was contributed by the other Rajasthan Royals players. Despite Mumbai Indians piling on their biggest score in the IPL, it required special death bowling from Zaheer Khan and Lasith Malinga to deny Rajasthan 19 runs in the last two overs.
 Yusuf’s onslaught came after Mumbai’s youngsters Ambati Rayudu, considered unlucky to have not played for India yet, and Saurabh Tiwary powered the home side to what seemed a massive total, but it turned out to be one that just about dodged the Yusuf-shaped bullet.
The it’s-good-to-be-back ad campaign of the IPL could well have been meant exclusively for Yusuf. In his first innings back in India, he shook a dying match up and gave Mumbai a right scare. The Yusuf show began when Rajasthan needed 143 off 57. He scored 54 off the next 11 balls he faced, 26 other deliveries got him 46, and when he finally got out he left Rajasthan 40 to get off 17 deliveries.
Of the nine fours and eight sixes he hit in a frenetic period of play, three shots stood out – and they were not sixes. The length deliveries and full tosses were all murdered, but in the 13th over – he was 57 off 22 by then – Ryan McLaren bowled a decent enough yorker to him. Yusuf opened the face late, beautifully late, and guided it for four. The next ball was not more than a couple of inches short of being a yorker, but on the stumps, and he managed to get under it, and still hit it to long-off for four. The third yorker of the over was neither wide nor straight, in between, and he leaned back to make space and steered it even later than the one before. More brutal hits preceded a moment of inspiration for Mumbai.
Arguably the best fielder in India, R Satish, returning from ICL, followed up his direct-hit run-out and a terrific caught-and-bowled with Yusuf’s dismissal. He bowled full and straight to Paras Dogra, the other batsman, then dived in his follow through to field the ball, and reverse-flicked to catch a backing-up Yusuf short.
Dogra, who had scored 18 off 20 in the 107-run stand until then, opened up in the same over, and hit two fours and two sixes to bring down the target to 19 off 12.
Zaheer and Malinga, though, with Harbhajan Singh injured and not available to bowl, performed like champs. Eleven near-yorkers from the duo in the last two overs meant even the two wides they bowled were not enough for Rajasthan.
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An action-packed beginning: Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar started off purposefully, followed by Aditya Tare’s quick cameo. Rajasthan Royals, though, came back to take three wickets in three overs to reduce Mumbai Indians to 70 for 3 in 6.3 overs.
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Fantastic fielding: Defending 212, Mumbai fielders and bowlers were on the top of their games, never letting Rajasthan even think of an improbable win. After 10 overs, Rajasthan were 69 for 4.
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Yusuf goes berserk: Yusuf Pathan unleashed an assault, as delicate as it was brutal, hitting nine fours and eight-sixes in a 37-ball hundred. From needing 143 off 57, Yusuf brought them down to needing 40 off 17.
Advantage Honours even
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It was fitting for Mumbai that Indian cricketers helped them come back at crucial times: they had become the first team in the three seasons of IPL to play with only three overseas players. Kapil Dev and friends could afford a wee smile too. Rayudu, Sathish and Ali Murtaza – who took a wicket with his first ball – are all returning from the ICL.
Rayudu and Tiwary added 110 runs in 63 balls to help Mumbai Indians recover from a triple-strike in the first third of the innings. Shane Warne didn’t have to wait too long to find out if Tendulkar “will open and face [Shaun] Tait”, with Tendulkar walking out to open with Sanath Jayasuriya.
Jayasuriya took apart Dimitri Mascarenhas, and Tendulkar did the honours for Tait, taking 10 runs from the four balls that Tait bowled to him. Mascarenhas hit back with two wickets in one over, and at 70 for 3 in 6.3 overs, the onus was on the Indian batsmen.
Rayudu immediately showed glimpses of what made observers talk of him as a potential international. He wristily flicked the first ball he faced for four, lest anybody forget he’s from Hyderabad.
It was just as well that Tendulkar didn’t survive long enough to give the viewers the much-awaited contest against Warne: the latter was off colour, going for 29 runs in three overs. There was no turn for Warne, and he bowled too many half-volleys. Tiwary took full toll, and hit him down the ground for two fours and a six. By the time Warne took himself off, Mumbai had reached 121 in 12 overs. Tiwary had reached 26, and Rayudu 23, off 17 balls each.
Part-time offbreaks from Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Yusuf went for full-time hitting. Rayudu hit three successive Jhunjhunwala deliveries for a huge six and fours either side of long-on. When he next smacked a six off Yusuf, he had reached 53 off just 30 deliveries, and Mumbai had rocketed to 166 in 16.3.
Tiwary reached his fifty by hitting Amit Uniyal, whose change-up delivery was the quicker one, to the long-on boundary. In fact it was all clean hitting down the ground from the two: out of the 108 they scored between them, only 16 came behind square.
Rayudu and Tiwary didn’t see the innings to the close, but Harbhajan Singh and Ryan McLaren contributed to Tait’s horror day, taking 22 off his last two overs. Each one of those runs mattered in the end.
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written by Swapnil
\\ tags: IPL, Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals
No other team will be as thankful for the IPL’s return to India as Rajasthan Royals. Back on flat pitches and facing low bounce, the likes of Yusuf Pathan and Swapnil Asnodkar become major weapons again. Then there are the Shanes, Warne for the entire season, and Watson for the later half. Also there is the home crowd that took to this Cinderella XI in the inaugural season. For a while now, Warne has been talking about how the inaugural IPL was the best cricketing time of his life, and how the home support was “amazing”.
From March 13 onwards they will be in familiar territory: in India, and underdogs after their lukewarm performance in South Africa. And once again they will want considerable contribution from their Indian players, the cornerstone of their success in 2008. Yusuf, Asnodkar, Munaf Patel, Naman Ojha, Kamran Khan and Siddharth Trivedi – none of them is a superstar, none of them assured of a place in the Indian Twenty20 side. But under Warne, and with the likes of Graeme Smith, Watson, Morne Morkel, and Shaun Tait, they could well form a winning combination again.
 The buzz
Warne’s Twitter page has been abuzz. Hardly a day passes when he doesn’t talk about longing for action or say “Go Royals”. Damien Martyn, a new recruit, has started sledging him about baked beans. Despite Shilpa Shetty’s presence, it’s all about Warne there. The fingers are working well on Twitter, but how well is the wrist going with the ball after nearly a year of no competitive cricket?
New faces
Tait, Martyn and Englishman Michael Lumb have almost been handpicked by Warne. Tait has been in red-hot bowling form, but true to Rajasthan fashion, the other two come without many expectations of them. Delhi’s Sumit Narwal and Bengal’s Abhishek Jhunjhunwala are the domestic acquisitions. Of course, there are unknown faces who are not even big names in domestic cricket.
Watch out for
Graeme Smith played the anchor role to Watson’s pyrotechnics in the first season, and was a failure in the second. In 2010, though, Rajasthan will look to him to come back to form, and more importantly be the lead batsman in Watson’s absence for the first half of the season.
Missing in action
Ravindra Jadeja apparently tried to negotiate his own price after his contract ended, and is paying the price by sitting out the whole of the third season. “It’s a shame re Jadeja not being part of the royals at IPL 3.. He is a good player for us. We will miss him!!! Shame,” tweeted Warne.
X factor
Yusuf Pathan can turn matches around quickly. He will be back as one of the main batsmen of the team, as opposed to not quite being sure of his role in the Indian team. Don’t count out a repeat of the first IPL.
Strength
The ability to surprise oppositions, and having two to three solid performers as fallback. Be it Yusuf opening the bowling, be it Asnodkar going bang bang at the top, be it somebody like Kamran with the ball, there is always a Warne to take care if the bowling goes wrong, or a Smith or Watson to control the batting. So Rajasthan, what’s new this time?
Weakness
The batting looks thin till the time Watson joins the team. Yusuf and Asnodkar can be a bit of a lottery, and it would be one pleasant shock if Martyn, at 38, can come and make an impact in their middle order.
Prediction for 2010
Semi-finals, and then who knows?
IPL 2009 – the key figures:
Final position: sixth
Top scorer: Ravindra Jadeja with 295 runs at 26.81 and strike-rate of 110.9
Top wicket-taker: Munaf Patel with 16 wickets at 15.06 and economy-rate of 6.91
Best result: seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore
Worst result: 75-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore
Highest team score: 211 v Kings XI Punjab
Lowest team score: 58 v Royal Challengers Bangalore
written by Swapnil
\\ tags: IPL, Rajasthan Royals
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