After the defeats that the team has faced and the criticisms that it has come to hear in the IPL in this season, this match of the Bangalore Royal Challengers got them another low. The opponents were the much-in-form team of the Rajasthan Royals. They won the match by a good margin of 65 runs. Graeme Smith was awarded the man of the match. After this defeat, one can say for sure that the team is out of the race for semi-finals now.
The basis of the good score of 197 runs that the Rajasthan Royals put across was laid down by the opening batsmen Smith and Asnodkar. Asnodkar scored 50 runs before his dismissal. Smith however stayed on the field for the full twenty overs and this was the reason he did not come out to field in the ground after the break. He scored a good 75 runs off 49 deliveries that he faced. After Asnodkar was dismissed, Watson was there with Smith to get on the run rate well. He scored 46 runs off 28 balls till the innings was over.
The Royal Challengers failed to get a start like the opponent team. The first three batsmen were dismissed at a score of 5 runs. after that situation, the team was never seen to be in the chase. Kallis was dismissed after a score of 20 runs which was preceeded by White who made 10. Rahul Dravid single handedly led the team with his batting and made 75 runs off 36 balls. The lower order too, to his disappointment, could not support him well. No double figures were scored by them too and the team finished off at 132 runs at the end of the 20 overs. With this defeat, the team is virtually out of the race now. Even if they win all the matches now, they will not make it to the semi-finals.
