Another thoroughly professional performance by the Royals today as they booked their place in the semi-finals. Kolkata desperately needed a win to keep their hopes alive, but none of their batsmen could quite get going, and 147 seemed a competitive total only because the wicket seemed quite difficult to score on. And so it proved when Rajasthan batted. Asnodkar, Smith and Watson all went cheaply, as did Tanvir who had been promoted up the order to get quick runs when Asnodkar failed. But one of the great strengths of the Royals side is that they don’t panic. Mohammad Kaif and Yusuf Pathan batted beautifully for the victory – Pathan striking 48* off only 18 balls. If the game had gone on any longer he would have comfortably broken his record for the fastest 50 of the tournament.

I wrote yesterday about how the sides with the biggest-hitting batsmen were not doing well in the tournament. Today I thought I’d take a look at the leading wicket takers. RP Singh of the Deccan Chargers is top of the pile, but behind him come Tanvir and Warne of the Royals, and Pathan and Sreesanth of the Punjab Kings. Those happen to be the two teams that are heading the table. I don’t think it could be any clearer than that. Having top-scoring batsmen like Sehwag and Gambhir is all very well, but if you want to win at Twenty20 you need bowlers who can take wickets.

And finally, if you find all of this cricket boring, here’s a fun commercial for you from Nike. I particularly like the elephant and the umpiring statue.