 | « Back to article | Print this article |
There were a few significant contributions in Royal Challengers Bangalore's comprehensive 10-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
Captain Anil Kumble took three wickets, veteran Jacques Kallis took two and remained unbeaten on 44, and Manish Pandey contributed 42 not out.
But the one performance that stood out was Praveen Kumar's, the Uttar Pradesh bowler recording the first hat-trick of the third edition.
Praveen's three for 18 was the seventh hat-trick overall in the tournament, following 'tricks' by Delhi Daredevils' Amit Mishra, Chennai Super Kings duo of Laxmipathy Balaji and Makhaya Ntini, Kings XI Punjab's Yuvraj Singh (twice) and Deccan Chargers' Rohit Sharma.
And it helped his team dismiss their opponents for a paltry 92.
After a tight opening spell -- his first spell figures read 2-0-10-0 -- Kumar was brought back into the attack in the 17th over.
And he struck immediately.
Damien Martyn (19) hit the first ball to the fence. But Kumar had his revenge off the next ball, rattling Martyn's stumps.
With his third ball he had Sumit Narwal (0) brilliantly caught at square leg by Manish Pandey and then cleaned up Paras Dogra (3) to complete a well-deserved hat-trick.