Bangalore : "We just weren't good enough," said Shane Warne after Rajasthan Royals crashed to a 10-wicket defeat against an inspired Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL on Thursday night.
"We just didn't do all the things we'd spoken of before the game. All their bowlers did very well on a good pitch. I thought it was a 200-plus wicket. It was beautiful. There was pace, and you could really play your shots," added Warne.
"Against Delhi, I thought we had a hangover from the first game. But credit to Bangalore. They set the tone early on, and never let us into the game."
With Graeme Smith back in Cape Town, Dimitri Mascarenhas ruled out and Shane Watson due back from international duty only in April, the Royals' lack of resources is clearly beginning to show.
"We need to do something quickly," he said. "I reckon you need at least seven wins to have a chance of semi-final place. We're not out of it, but if we play like we did today, we may as well give the points to the opposition."
Bangalore's Praveen Kumar became the sixth player in the history of the Indian Premier League, and first in season three, to record a hat-trick which drove the crowd wild.
"The way we planned, we bowled that way," Kumar was reported saying in The Hindu. "When I got the second wicket, I thought it might happen [smile]. I was going to bowl a length ball anyway, even if he tried to hit it for six. If he missed, I knew I had a chance."
Brought back into the attack in the 17th over, Praveen removed Damien Martin, Sumit Narwal and Paras Dogra off successive deliveries to join the elite league.
Delhi Daredevils' Amit Mishra, Chennai Super Kings duo of L Balaji and Makhaya Ntini, Kings XI Punjab's Yuvraj Singh (twice) and Deccan Chargers' Rohit Sharma had achieved the feat in the previous editions of the event.
