IPL: Rajasthan trounce Bangalore by 7 wickets

Lee Carseldine (left) of the Rajasthan Royals celebrates the dismissal of Rahul Dravid, caught by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha for naught, during their Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 match in Centurion on Thursday.

An unbeaten 38-ball 52 by Ojha enabled Rajasthan Royals thrash Bangalore Royal Challengers by seven wickets.

Roelof van der Merwe was bowled by Amit Singh off a slow delivery for 15 runs.

With just five overs left, the Bangalore total read 76 with six of their batsmen back in the pavilion.

Singh cleaned up van der Merwe with a clever change of pace and Praveen Kumar (7 runs) was run-out in a bizarre manner, hitting straight back to the bowler and setting out for a run -- to complicate Bangalore's problems further.

Jacques Kallis celebrates after dismissing opener and South African counterpart Graeme Smith for 20 runs.

Bangalore Royal Challengers were all out for 105 runs off their 20 overs.

Naman Ojha on his way to an unbeaten half-century. He scored 52 off just 38 balls.

Ojha hit Van der Merwe for a huge six over the long-off boundary as Rajasthan went into the strategic time-out at 62 for two, needing 44 more to complete an expected win.

Yusuf Pathan, who did not get a chance with the ball, played a decent cameo with the bat soon after resumption.

A cover drive off Kallis and a pull towards the long-leg boundary being the only two boundaries in his 19-ball 22.

He fell soon after hitting the second of those shots, a shorter one from Dillion du Preez, straight to Jaffer at long leg.

Chasing a modest 106 to win, the defending champions romped home with five overs to spare and moved up to the top of the table with 11 points.

This was Rajasthan's fifth win in nine matches and Bangalore's fifth defeat in as many games.

It was also the first defeat in three matches for Anil Kumble the captain.