17 May 2008 - Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur : In an emotional moment, Mr. Lalit Modi, Commissioner IPL, joined the players and officials to pay tribute to the victims of the Jaipur blasts. Mr. Modi also commended Jaipur and its spirit in this time of adversity. Players and officials had black armbands as mark of respect, with the Royals wanting to win for their home city. As the bugles sounded, the otherwise noisy stadium went quite as all rose for the 2-minute mourning.

They say the show must go on; and so it did. Put into bat, Rajasthan Royals showed why this match was like no other and how much it meant to them and their supporters. They went on to put up a total that looked out of the reach for the visitors even before Bangalore padded up to bat. Asondkar, recovered from the injury, and Smith got back to hit a superb 100 run partnership for the opening wicket. The Royal Challengers Bangalore could consider that luck did not favour them as edges flew in the gaps, worse still, for boundaries. However, they also have themselves to blame for a poor fielding display. Asnodkar (50 of 44 balls) was the only success that RCB enjoyed; Anil Kumble getting his first victim of the tournament. Graeme Smith, who had yet another quite start compared to Asnodkar, got his A-game as promised earlier. Smith essayed a fabulously paced unbeaten innings of 75 (off 49 balls), an effort that got him the man-of-the-match award. Warne then promoted Watson when RR lost their first wicket at 109. Watson joined the party as he fired 46 off 28, rallying the RR total to 197 at the end of their stipulated overs.

RCB’s woes continued, as they had a disastrous start. Tanvir reduced them for 3-5 and most certainly closed the doors for a possible Bangalore win. With half the side down at 40, RCB could have well been looking at one of the lowest totals. Shane Warne rubbed into the wounds as he was on a hattrick, which eventually Zaheer Khan managed to keep away. However, there was one man that obstructed RRs early victory plans; ‘The Wall’ Rahul Dravid. The RCB captain, who has been under the hammer, showed his class as he hit a superb 75 off just 36 deliveries. The knock included six majestic boundaries and six towering sixes. Dravid was particularly severe against the part-timers Jadeja and Pathan, but sadly never had any support at the other end.

RR recorded a 65-run win and continued to sit pretty on the top of the league standings. This win almost ensures their semi-final birth.