Warne shines; RR trounce Kochi

RR made three changes to their playing eleven – Swapnil Asnodkar, Ajinkya Rahane and Shaun Tait made way for Johan Botha, Ajinkya Rahane and Amit Singh.

KTK made a couple of changes to their playing eleven – Brendon McCullum and Ramesh Powar made way for V V S Laxman and Thisara Perera.

On winning the toss, Shane Warne, RR’s skipper, chose to field.

The first Powerplay of KTK’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 32, and lost a couple of wickets.

KTK’s openers put on 26. Laxman, whose 10-ball innings included a boundary, scored eight. Twenty-one balls into the match, Rahul Dravid ran him out.

Jayawardene, KTK’s skipper, scored 13 off as many balls, which included a couple of boundaries. Four balls (Mahe)later, Botha broke the two-run stand.

Brad Hodge, who faced 14 balls, scored eight. Twenty-one balls later, Warne broke the 14-run stand.

KTK scored 50 off 9.3 overs (57 balls). The number of extras they had conceded at that point gave RR no reason to be in seventh heaven.

Ravindra Jadeja, whose 23-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 22. Forty-eight balls after Hodge’s dismissal, he was caught by Warne, who broke the run-a-ball stand.

The fifth-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Parthiv Patel, whose 34-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 32. The next ball, he was stumped by Dishant Yagnik off the bowling of Warne.

The sixth-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Raiphi Gomez, who faced a ball, didn’t open his account. Three balls later, he was caught by Shane Watson off the bowling of Siddharth Trivedi.

Thisara Perera, who faced four balls, scored a run. Five balls later, he was caught by Stuart Binny. Trivedi broke the two-run stand.

Vinay Kumar, whose four-ball innings included a boundary, scored five. Five balls later, he was caught by Watson. Rudra Pratap Singh broke the six-run stand.

KTK scored 100 off 18.1 overs (110 balls). RR had conceded eight extras at that point.

Kedar Jadhav, who faced nine balls, scored five. Twelve balls after Kumar’s dismissal, he was caught by Yagnik. Trivedi broke the 10-run stand.

Muttiah Muralitharan, who faced eight balls, scored five. He was unbeaten.

The last-wicket pair put on a run. Rudra Pratap Singh, who faced a ball, scored a run. The next ball, Botha and Yagnik ran him out.

RR eventually conceded eight extras. KTK were dismissed for 109 off 20 overs.

Each of the five bowlers bowled four overs apiece.

Watson bowled four wicketless overs, conceding 23.

Singh and Botha picked up a wicket apiece. While the former conceded 26, the latter conceded 19.

Trivedi and Warne picked up three scalps apiece. While the former conceded 19, the latter conceded 16.

The first Powerplay of RR’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 38, without the loss of a wicket.

RR scored 50 off as many balls (8.2 overs). KTK had conceded a couple of extras at that point. That was, incidentally, the number of extras they eventually conceded. While Watson’s contribution to the partnership was 16, Dravid’s contribution to it was 32.

RR’s openers eventually put on 71. Dravid, whose 37-ball innings included four boundaries and a six, eventually scored 44. Sixty-four balls into the chase, Jadhav and Patel ran him out.

RR scored 100 off 13.1 overs (79 balls).

Watson, whose 40-ball innings included four boundaries and a couple of sixes, eventually scored 49. Nineteen balls later, Jadeja broke the 34-run stand.

Botha, whose seven-ball innings included three boundaries, scored 14. He was unbeaten, as was Ross Taylor, who faced a ball, scoring a couple.

RR, who scored 111 for the loss of a couple of wickets off 14.1 overs, won by eight wickets with 35 balls to spare.

Gomez bowled a wicketless over, conceding nine.

Rudra Pratap and Perera bowled two wicketless overs each, conceding 11 apiece.

Vinay bowled three wicketless overs, conceding 27.

Muralitharan bowled 3.1 wicketless overs, conceding 28.

Jadeja bowled three overs, conceding 24. He picked up a wicket.