Royals shine as Knights fall

Amit Singh8217;s slower one,the fifth delivery of the second over,was scooped straight to skipper Rahul Dravid at mid-off. The next ball,decidedly quicker and pitching in an area that elicited the infamous Gautam Gambhir dab,settled in the keeper8217;s gloves. The first ball of the third over saw Brendon McCullum act out an action replay of his dismissal against Delhi Daredevils for the benefit of the Jaipur crowd.

An ugly swipe across the line allowed Ankeet Chavan8217;s slow left-arm to strike him on the back leg,which was plonked right in front of the wicket. Rahane8217;s flaming sunset headgear finally disappeared in the midst of the manic group huddle that followed.

Yusuf threat quelled

From there on,it was just a question of Dravid keeping Yusuf Pathan from playing an innings that would tear up the stat book Rajasthan haven8217;t lost a match after scoring 160 or more at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. But that knock never came.

Dravid took the pace off the ball and much like his first game in charge,against Kings XI Punjab,just allowed the escalating run rate to more or less force the batsmen into throwing their wickets away.

Manoj Tiwary was the other player in the match who had a change of fortunes,following up his first-ball duck against Delhi with a half-century,but all the effort did was to reduce the margin of defeat

Defending a challenging total on a slow track might sometimes seem easier than it turns out to be,but has to be seen in the light of the effort put in by the batsmen in setting it up.

Two run outs early in the Rajasthan innings,and Dravid might have been at fault on both occasions,saw Rahane and the skipper himself depart fairly early. The decision to promote Shreevats Goswami in the powerplay did not work,with as many as 20 dot balls played out with the fielders in.

If it was to keep the left-right combination going,then Dravid went back on it immediately,for,at the fall of the skipper8217;s wicket,Goswami was soon joined by Ashok Menaria,another southpaw.

Spin trick

Gambhir responded by bringing on the spinners for the next 10 overs and the batsmen,accomplished but not the kind that can dictate play,struggled,but plugged away.

Goswami departed in a five-over period where no boundary was scored,but the dismissal had the salutary effect of bringing on Brad Hodge,the second highest scorer in T20s.

The move paid off,most spectacularly in the three over period between the 14th and the 16th,yielding 37 runs. The momentum carried the side to an above-par score and the win ensured that some of Dravid8217;s decisions might just be labelled curious rather than invite scrutiny.