Rajasthan Royals will sleep peacefully tonight after registering their first victory in the third edition of IPL. Playing against the much talked about side, Kolkata Knight Riders, the Royals have done an excellent job to win by 34 runs in Ahmedabad.

Electing to bat first, Rajasthan fumbled early on when they lost their opener Michael Lumb in the first ball but Naman Ojha, Faiz Fazal Jhunjhunwala and Adam Voges contributed well to give Rajasthan bowlers something to defend. Yusuf Pathan failed to impress with his bat today.

Naman Ojha and Fazal steadied the score with a 42-run second wicket partnership. Ojha blasted five 4s in his 18-ball 27 runs stand, while Fazal smashed six 4s before being dismissed for 31 runs (23 balls).

Man of the match, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, scored a 36-ball 45 and Adam Voges blasted 37 runs in just 22 balls that helped Rajasthans Royals to post a modest 168 for 7 in 20 overs.

An excellent fielding performance by Rajasthan Royals combined with poor batting by Kolkata Knight Riders made the second innings look very one-sided. KKR found it very difficult to chase a modest target of 169 runs.

KKR’s both openers clearly struggled for form and Manoj Tiwary (11) was dismissed very early in the game. Pujara (29) and Brad Hodge (36) tried to steady the ship, but Pujara’s dismissal put a halt to that 50 run partnership as well.

Then came captain Sourav Ganguly but despite his best efforts he struggled to break free against a resolute Rajasthan bowling. Hodge and Ganguly were getting increasingly frustrated as the required run rate was shooting up constantly.

Yusuf Pathan did impress with the ball as he did well to dismiss Tiwary and Hodge, further helping Rajasthan towards their victory. He gave away just 23 runs in his 4 overs.

Sourav Ganguly made a 29-ball 33 before being dismissed in the final over and eventually Kolkata lost their chase with just 134 runs on the board.