Royals top IPL

Amit Singh ripped through Bangalore's batting with four wickets to dismiss them for 105 at SuperSport Park

A clinical bowling display handed the Rajasthan Royals a seven-wicket victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers to send the defending champions top of the Indian Premier League table.

Fast bowler Amit Singh was the star for Rajasthan with four wickets and off-spinner Ravindra Jadeja took a further three as Bangalore posted a poor total of 105 after being put in to bat first in Centurion.

It was the second-lowest total of the tournament so far and the Royals needed only 15 overs to reach the victory target.

Naman Ojha took the plaudits with the bat after scoring his second consecutive half-century to send Shane Warne’s team back to the summit and keep Bangalore just outside the semi-final places.

Amit was named man-of-the-match for his performance as the Royals made excellent use of the hard Centurion surface to bowl out the Challengers after winning the toss.

Rajasthan opened with pace, Amit striking first in the third over with a delivery which Wasim Jaffer sent into the hands of Lee Carseldine at cover.

Jacques Kallis was then caught by Niraj Patel before Rahul Dravid gloved a catch to the wicketkeeper and was out for a duck.

Captain Shane Warne brought himself on in the eighth over and soon after Robin Uthappa was dismissed for lbw, leaving Bangalore on just 40 for four.

Uthappa had accrued 17 and it turned to be the highest individual total for Bangalore, who next had Mark Boucher bowled for six.

Morne Morkel pulled off a diving catch to send Virat Kohli packing and after the fast bowlers returned, the last four wickets fell for just 20 runs, R Vinay Kumar just about helping Bangalore over the 100 run mark.

During the brief chase that followed, Bangalore were simply unable to exploit the surface where Rajasthan had done so effectively.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith had driven two fours each off Praveen Kumar and Dillon du Preez before being bowled by his compatriot Kallis, and Carseldine was given out after a mix-up with Ojha saw the two batsmen at the bowler's end.

But Ojha made up for the dismissal with a massive six off Roelof van der Merwe in the next over and Rajasthan went into the break needing only 44 for victory with eight wickets in hand.

After the interval Yusuf Pathan drove Kallis through cover for four and Ojha hit Vinay Kumar for a six over long-off.

Pathan fell with Rajasthan needing only 15 more when he tried to pull Du Preez for a second time to fine leg and got a top edge instead.

But Ojha was on hand to wrap the victory up, hitting two fours and a six to make it three of each in total, an individual score of 52 runs and an easy win for Rajasthan.