Royal thrashing for Royals

The Royal Challengers Bangalore Wednesday enhanced their chances of making the semi-finals with a comprehensive five-wicket victory over the Rajasthan Royals that saw them move to the second spot on the Indian Premier League points table. Chasing a modest 131 to win, the Royal Challengers overhauled the target with 4.2 overs to spare after Kevin Pietersen hit an aggressive half-century to steer his side to an easy win. Earlier, the Royal Challengers pacers brilliantly exploited the slow nature of the Sawai Man Singh stadium strip to restrict the hosts to a modest 130 for six. Something that would surely have made rival captain Shane Warne rue his decision to bat. With this win, the Royal Challengers are now second on the table with 14 points and would look to seal the semi-final spot when they take on table-toppers Mumbai Indians on Saturday. The Royals, who remained fifth, will now have to beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by a huge margin, also on Saturday, and hope results of other matches go in their favour. Pietersen made a fine return to the side, ensuring, in the company of the equally destructive Robin Uthappa, that his side won the crucial encounter comfortably. They put together a quick-fire 60-run partnership for the third wicket which ended when Uthappa (26) was stumped by wicket-keeper Naman Ojha off Warne’s bowling.

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