With Shane Warne expressing explicitly his intentions before the match began, of knocking out the Kolkata Knight Riders team, one can surely have an idea of the confidence level that team is enjoying. All of it is pretty much justified too with the team getting so many wins. They got one more today against the Kolkata Knight Riders by 6 wickets with 21 balls still remaining. The team has now risen to 18 points from 11 matches and is the first ones to secure a position in the semi-finals of this season of Indian Premier League.
The well tested and tried formula of the Rajasthan Royals came into play again when they asked the Kolkata team to bat first on winning the toss. Shane Warne, during the game, tried out very innovative mix and match combinations of bowling which actually got the Kolkata team on a roll. The pitch too was helping the bowlers a great deal. The highest scorer in the Kolkata team was Ganguly, the skipper, who scored 32 runs off 34 balls. Das was the second to follow with 31 runs off 20 balls. Not much support came from other batsmen except for Butt who made 24 runs as the opener. The team went to a modest total of 147 runs.
A similar opening happened for the Rajasthan Royals like their opponents. Smith was dismissed at 24 runs, whereas Asnodkar could survive for just 5 runs. The idea to send Tanvir at number three did not work much. Kaif however came to supportthe team at the right time. Some time later, Yousuf Pathan joined him and then there was no stopping for the team. He made 48 runs off just 18 balls. Kaif supported him well by rotating strike and not taking any risks in that situation. The team won with the effect of batting of these two boys when they still had 21 balls in hand. Yousuf Pathan was awarded the man of the match rightfully with the important role that he played in victory.
