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Rajasthan Royals entered IPL T20 season 2 as the defending champions and the expectations were quite high on them to perform. But Warne and his boys could not pull up a win against the Bangalore Royal Challengers which was led under a new captain Kevin Pieterse. However, it was proved once again in this match that the veterans are the pillars of any team and the two best performances in this match were Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble. Pietersen won the toss and decided to bat first. They were put on the backfoot by an exceptional bowling by Rajasthan Royals bolwers initially led by Dimitri Mascarenhas who took two wickets in the first three balls of the match. The Royal Challengers initially seemed to be unable to take on the challenge of the Royals but Rahul Dravid’s brilliant innings (66 off 48 balls) and Kevin Pietersen’s innings (32 off 30 balls) helped the Royal Challengers reach a score of 133 off their 20 overs. The target seemed to be quite easy but Rajasthan Royals had a terrible start where none of their batsmen could bat for long and they lost wickets and regular intervals. They could not increase their run rate too and an excellent spell by Anil Kumble picking 5 wickets for 5 runs made sure that they were bundled out for the second lowest t20 total ever of 58 runs. Rahul Dravid was declared as the man of the match for the game.

Full Scorecard

 Bangalore
Batsmen Status Runs Balls 4s 6s S.Rate
Jesse Ryder c Mahesh Rawat b Dimitri Mascarenhas 0 2 0 0 0
Robin Uthappa (W) c Mahesh Rawat b Dimitri Mascarenhas 3 10 0 0 30
Ross Taylor b Dimitri Mascarenhas 0 1 0 0 0
Kevin Pietersen (C) c Niraj Patel b Tyron Henderson 32 30 4 0 106.67
Rahul Dravid c Shane Warne b Munaf Patel 66 48 8 1 137.5
Virat Kohli b Shane Warne 3 8 0 0 37.5
Balachandra Akhil b Shane Warne 9 9 1 0 100
Praveen Kumar c & b Munaf Patel 8 10 0 1 80
Vinay Kumar not out 8 2 2 0 400
Dale Steyn * not out 0 0 0 0
Anil Kumble
Extras: b – 0, w – 2, nb – 0, lb – 2 4  
Total: (133 for 8 wickets in 20.0 overs) 133 Run Rate: 6.65
Fall of Wickets
1-0 (Jesse Ryder, 0.2), 2-0 (Ross Taylor, 0.3), 3-17 (Robin Uthappa, 4.5), 4-52 (Kevin Pietersen, 8.5), 5-63 (Virat Kohli, 11.5), 6-88 (Balachandra Akhil, 15.4), 7-119 (Praveen Kumar, 19.2), 8-125 (Rahul Dravid, 19.4)
Bowling (Jaipur)
Bowler O M R W nb wd R/O
Dimitri Mascarenhas 4 0 20 3 0 0 5
Kamran Khan 3 0 21 0 0 0 7
Munaf Patel 3 0 25 2 0 1 8.33
Tyron Henderson 4 0 30 1 0 0 7.5
Shane Warne 4 0 18 2 0 0 4.5
Yusuf Pathan 2 0 17 0 0 1 8.5
Power Play
Power Play 1 Overs: 1-6
  Jaipur
Batsmen Status Runs Balls 4s 6s S.Rate
Graeme Smith c Rahul Dravid b Praveen Kumar 2 11 0 0 18.18
Swapnil Asnodkar c Virat Kohli b Praveen Kumar 0 2 0 0 0
Niraj Patel c Anil Kumble b Jesse Ryder 4 16 0 0 25
Tyron Henderson b Jesse Ryder 11 15 0 1 73.33
Yusuf Pathan c Jesse Ryder b Anil Kumble 11 14 1 0 78.57
Dimitri Mascarenhas run out (Virat Kohli) 0 1 0 0 0
Ravindra Jadeja c Virat Kohli b Anil Kumble 11 10 0 1 110
Shane Warne (C) st Robin Uthappa b Anil Kumble 3 9 0 0 33.33
Mahesh Rawat (W) not out 4 7 0 0 57.14
Munaf Patel c Dale Steyn b Anil Kumble 0 2 0 0 0
Kamran Khan c Robin Uthappa b Anil Kumble 3 5 0 0 60
Extras: b – 0, w – 7, nb – 1, lb – 1 9  
Total: (58 for 10 wickets in 15.1 overs) 58 Run Rate: 3.82
Fall of Wickets
1-2 (Swapnil Asnodkar, 0.5), 2-7 (Graeme Smith, 3), 3-14 (Niraj Patel, 6.2), 4-28 (Tyron Henderson, 8.3), 5-28 (Dimitri Mascarenhas, 8.4), 6-47 (Yusuf Pathan, 11.1), 7-47 (Ravindra Jadeja, 11.2), 8-53 (Shane Warne, 13.3), 9-53 (Munaf Patel, 13.5), 10-58 (Kamran Khan, 15.1)
Bowling (Bangalore)
Bowler O M R W nb wd R/O
Praveen Kumar 3 0 7 2 1 2 2.33
Dale Steyn 2 0 6 0 0 3 3
Vinay Kumar 3 0 25 0 0 1 8.33
Jesse Ryder 4 0 14 2 0 1 3.5
Anil Kumble 3.1 1 5 5 0 0 1.58

Mumbai Indians had a lot of expectations running on them with a brilliant combination of batsmen and bowlers in their team. But Chennai Super Kings also have a deadly match and so the IPL T20 season 2 opener was bound to become an excellent clash. Mumbai Indians were put to bat by Dhoni after he won the toss. Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar started the proceedings although they were finding it a bit tough initially. But they played consistently with Sachin Tendulkar (59 off 49 balls), Jayasuriya (26 off 20 balls), Shikhar Dhawan (22 off 21 balls) and Abhishek Nayar (35 off 14 balls) playing the major roles. Mumbai Indians closed at 165 for 7 wickets in their 20 overs. The highlight of the Mumbai Indians innings was three sixes off Flintoff’s over by Abhishek Nayyar. Chennai Super Kings had a terrible start with Parthiv Patel out in the second ball. Matthew Hayden (44 off 35 balls), Dhoni (36 off 26 balls) and Flintoff (24 off 23 balls) were the main contributions from the Chennai Super Kings side but those were not enough. Chennai Super Kings fell short of the target of 166 and closed their innings at 146/7 after 20 overs.

Sachin Tendulkar was declared the Man of the Match while Abhishek Nayar got the maximum sixes award. The match was the perfect start to the IPL T20 season 2. The fun begins

This is the full scorecard

Batsmen Status Runs Balls 4s 6s S.Rate
Sanath Jayasuriya c Matthew Hayden b Thilan Thushara 26 20 5 0 130
Sachin Tendulkar (C) not out 59 49 7 0 120.41
Shikhar Dhawan c MS Dhoni b Manpreet Gony 22 21 2 0 104.76
JP Duminy c & b Manpreet Gony 9 7 1 0 128.57
Dwayne Bravo c Matthew Hayden b Joginder Sharma 5 4 1 0 125
Abhishek Nayar c Thilan Thushara b Jacob Oram 35 14 2 3 250
Harbhajan Singh run out (Jacob Oram) 4 2 1 0 200
Zaheer Khan c Ravichandran Ashwin b Andrew Flintoff 2 3 0 0 66.67
Pinal Shah (W) not out 0 0 0 0
Lasith Malinga
Rohan Raje
Extras: b – 1, w – 1, nb – 0, lb – 1 3
Total: (165 for 7 wickets in 20.0 overs) 165 Run Rate: 8.25

Fall of Wickets1-39 (Sanath Jayasuriya, 5.5), 2-82 (Shikhar Dhawan, 11.4), 3-95 (JP Duminy, 13.3), 4-102 (Dwayne Bravo, 14.3), 5-148 (Abhishek Nayar, 18.1), 6-157 (Harbhajan Singh, 19), 7-161 (Zaheer Khan, 19.5)

Bowling (Chennai)Bowler O M R W nb wd R/O
Manpreet Gony 4 0 32 2 0 1 8
Thilan Thushara 4 0 32 1 0 0 8
Andrew Flintoff 4 0 44 1 0 0 11
Jacob Oram 4 0 30 1 0 0 7.5
Joginder Sharma 4 0 25 1 0 0 6.25

Power Play
Power Play 1 Overs: 1-6

Chennai
Batsmen Status Runs Balls 4s 6s S.Rate
Parthiv Patel (W) c Sachin Tendulkar b Lasith Malinga 0 2 0 0 0
Matthew Hayden c Zaheer Khan b Sanath Jayasuriya 44 35 6 1 125.71
Suresh Raina c Rohan Raje b Dwayne Bravo 8 9 1 0 88.89
Andrew Flintoff c & b Harbhajan Singh 24 23 3 1 104.35
MS Dhoni (C) b Lasith Malinga 36 26 1 2 138.46
Jacob Oram c Pinal Shah b Sanath Jayasuriya 8 6 0 1 133.33
Subramaniam Badrinath c Dwayne Bravo b Lasith Malinga 0 2 0 0 0
Joginder Sharma not out 16 15 0 1 106.67
Thilan Thushara not out 1 2 0 0 50
Manpreet Gony
Ravichandran Ashwin
Extras: b – 0, w – 3, nb – 0, lb – 6 9
Total: (146 for 7 wickets in 20.0 overs) 146 Run Rate: 7.3

Fall of Wickets1-0 (Parthiv Patel, 0.2), 2-18 (Suresh Raina, 2.5), 3-70 (Andrew Flintoff, 9.5), 4-89 (Matthew Hayden, 12.4), 5-101 (Jacob Oram, 14.3), 6-109 (Subramaniam Badrinath, 15.3), 7-144 (MS Dhoni, 19.4)

Bowling (Mumbai)Bowler O M R W nb wd R/O
Lasith Malinga 4 0 15 3 0 2 3.75
Zaheer Khan 4 0 34 0 0 0 8.5
Dwayne Bravo 4 0 27 1 0 1 6.75
Rohan Raje 1 0 15 0 0 0 15
Harbhajan Singh 3 0 15 1 0 0 5
Sanath Jayasuriya 4 0 34 2 0 0 8.5

Bangalore Royal Challengers always makes sure that they have some of the best cheerleaders to cheer the team. Last year Bangalore Royal Challengers owner and business tycoon Vijay Mallya had got the Washington Red Skins cheerleaders to cheer for the team. There were some conservative groups last year who protested the girls wearing skimpy outfits while cheering for the team. But the flamboyant Mallya did not succumb to anybody and had the hot cheerleaders throughout the tournament though a few other franchisees changed the dress of the cheerleaders. Vijay Mallya has dropped the Red Skin cheerleaders this year and hired 24 members of the US-based Varsity cheerleader group and renamed them “White Mischief Gals”. The girls have been named after his brand of vodka named “White Mischief”. According to the Mallya Company’s release the girls are “specially trained in flirty acrobatic skills for a scintillating on-field performance”. According to the release the White Mischief girls are “a little bit naughty, a little more hottie and a lot more mischievous”. Hope that the girls can motivate Kevin Pietersen and his team. Meanwhile Vijay Mallya will not be able to cheer his team from the start and he will come a week later as he wants to watch his Formula One team, Force India, compete in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Here are two videos of the new White Mischief Gals

And here is a picture of the last year’s Red Skin cheerleaders

So, whom do you like more of the two