Rajasthan Royals finish 3rd in IPL 2013
Posted by Athul Jayachandran | Labels: Awards, Indian Premier League, Twenty20 | Posted On Saturday, May 25, 2013 at 6:13 AM
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| Dravid managed to get the best out a team that didn't have big names on paper. |
The Rajasthan Royals lead by Rahul Dravid, has finished 3rd in the sixth edition of the IPL after a nail-biting finish against the Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Having won the toss, The Royals opted to bat first hoping to make a great start. Rajasthan looked good before the first wicket fell of Ajinkya Rahane who was bowled by Harbhajan Singh, they were 44-1 then. Shane Watson and Sanju Samson departed soon and the Royals were 64-3 at that stage and in walked Stuart Binny who played a quick fire 27 from 17 balls to regain momentum for his team. Dravid soon fell caught by Rohit Sharma off Harbhajan Singh. Royals were struggling to get the scoreboard ticking and was 108/6 after 15.3 overs when Cooper was dismissed. Dishant Yagnik who walked out next along with Brad Hodge took the royals to 165/6 after 20 overs. Thanks to some brilliant batting by Yagnik and poor bowling effort by Mallinga.
Mumbai's Innings was held together by Dwayne Smith, who along with opener AP Tare put on a partnership of 70 runs before Tare was dismissed by Kevon Cooper. After Tare left, Dinesh Karthik and Smith built the MI innings and they were looking as if they would cruise to a win here. Cooper who came back for his second spell got Karthik out in his first ball and suddenly it looked as if Royals had the advantage. Faulkner gave away just 1 run and took 1 wicket in the next over and the pressure was back on the MI. Pollard looked dangerous before he was dismissed by Faulkner. Rohit Sharma was bowled the very next over by Trivedi and things looked very even. Mumbai needed 8 runs of the last over and Dravid went to Shane Watson for the penultimate over. Rayudu took 2 runs of the first ball of the over and was bowled in the next. In walked Dhawan instead of M Johnson and managed to sneak a boundary of his first bowl. Soon MI needed just 1 run in 2 balls to win when Harbhajan cleared the ropes to take MI to victory. Harbhajan was awarded Man of the match for his bowling performance and finish. Now the Mumbai Indians will face the Chennai Super Kings at the final, scheduled on 27th at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Rajasthan Royals meanwhile has qualified for the Champions League which is scheduled to happen after a couple of months. We congratulate the Royals who gave their 100% to reach so far in the competition and managed to win against every IPL team. We also wish them the very best at the CLT20.
