3 things we learnt from Rajasthan Royals vs Pune Warriors India game

Rajasthan Royals seem to have a liking for PWI as their last 2 games were pretty much a one-sided affair in favor of the Royals. If Pune failed to set a competitive total at the Subrata Roy, at Sawai Mansingh, they ended up chasing a big one. Shane Watson yet again provided the firepower at the start and Rahane was back from hibernation scoring a cautious half century. Steve Smith was yet again the lone warrior for Pune as Ajit Chandila grabbed the first hat-trick of the season in just his second IPL match. Here are three points to think about:

1. Ajinkya Rahane has got class

He definitely is not a Paul Valthaty. He is here to dominate the cricketing world and is just waiting for a permanent place in the Indian Team. He was in sublime touch in this IPL at the start, lost his form a bit, but like all classy players was back to scoring runs very quickly. He definitely wasn’t at his fluent best, but he knew he had to stick around to get his runs. He did just that and got the dividends. He is definitely here to stay and all overseas players will have an eye on him.

2. Steve Smith is the right man in the wrong team.

It’s been a similar script each time PWI have come out to bat. The top order fails and Steve Smith is left with too much to do in the end. Sometimes he took them over the line, sometimes he just ran out of partners. He has been their most consistent man this season and PWI should have done really better this season. Another reason for this is, he was batting way too down the order. With the form that he was in, he should have batted at 4. That would have won Pune at least a couple of games. Overall, he ended up being the lone ‘Warrior’.

3. Young Indian bowlers are the flavour of this season.

Gayle and Malinga as expected might be the top batsman and bowler, but it’s really the young Indian bowlers who are hogging the limelight. Ajit Chandila stole the show with his hat-trick. Parvinder Awana has been outstanding this season. For Rajasthan, Amit Singh and Siddarth Trivedi have been outstanding. Appanna has been good in the limited opportunities he has got. Pawan Negi has been the star for Delhi. If even a couple of them can play consistently at the international level then India have found their men.