Rajasthan Royals beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 8 wickets

Jaipur: Shane Warne led from the front with a three-wicket haul as Rajasthan Royals notched up an easy eight-wicket victory over Kochi Tuskers Kerela to bring their campaign back on track in the Indian Premier League here today.

Warne’s decision to bowl first was vindicated as his bowlers responded to the captain’s call to skittle out the Kochi outfit for a paltry 109 in 20 overs at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here.

Shane Watson (49) and Rahul Dravid (44) then came back to set the foundation of their runchase, while Johan Botha (14) and Ross Taylor (2) finished off the game as the Royals reached 111 for two with 5.5 overs to spare.

Rajasthan’s third win in seven matches snapped Kochi’s three-game winning streak and also helped them to jump to the second place in the points table.

Rajasthan Royal skipper Shane Warne won the toss and opted to bowl against Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

The hosts have made two changes to their side, bringing in Johan Botha and Ajinkya Rahane in place Shaun Tait and Abhishek Raut.

Kochi have replaced injured Brendon McCullum with VVS Laxman and also included Thisara Perera in place of Ramesh Powar.

Teams:
Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (C), Shane Watson, Swapnil Asnodkar, Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, Ashok Menaria, Ross Taylor, Dishant Yagnik, Johan Botha, Stuart Binny and Siddharth Trivedi

Kochi Tuskers Kerala: Mahela Jayawardene (C),VVS Laxman, Ravindra Jadeja, Brad Hodge, Kedar Jadhav, Parthiv Patel, Raiphi Gomez, R Vinay Kumar, RP Singh, Muttiah Muralitharan and Thisara Perera.