A royal win, crafted by Royals !

Rajastan crushed Kochi by 8 wickets with a superb display of bowling. Kochi could only score 109 and Rajastan won with 8 wickets to spare.

The royal brain of Warne, one should admit, was behind this success. He led from the front with a three wicket haul and Tuskers could not get out of his royal grip.

His decision to field first was was validated as Kochi was shot out for 109.

Mahela admitted that Kochi didnt bat well.

"It was going to be a tough task with the dew, we needed another 20-30 runs more, we didn't bat well and they bowled well up front," the Sri Lankan said after the match.

"We needed to take wickets and not give them momentum. Rahul and Watson showed their experience and played really well. We tried our best. We didn't had a good day in the office. Hopefully we will come back.

"After the start we had, I thought 120-130 was a good score, but we couldn't execute, but plenty to learn from this. We have to adapt to good conditions. It is a close table this time around, everything is beating each other, we need to keep focus and we can be top of the table again" said the formidable Sri Lankan.

Warne, on the contrary, was enthused about his team's performance.

"Our intensity was very good from ball one, the boys showed a lot of character today, we had a good record at home and it was a satisfying win" .

"They worked pretty hard, back room staff also were always working with them. We had a few hiccups in the last few games but we bounced back in emphatic style today" said the spin legend.

The Royals catapulted to the second spot after trampling the Tuskers and hoped that his team will keep the momentum going. ( One wonders whether momentum is so important, with cricket being a game of chance. One day this team, next day another team ! ).

Watson (49) and Dravid (44) starred for the Royals.