Jaipur, May 17: It appears as if Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals can do no wrong. Whether they go into a game without match practice or after a prolonged break, the top team of the IPL need to just walk into the SMS Stadium and they are a transformed side.

Swatting away the Royal Challengers like one does an irritating fly, the Royals scripted an imposing 65-run victory to all but seal their berth in the semifinals. Racing away to 197/1, the Royals restricted the Challengers to 132 for nine, to tally 16 from 10 games.

Once again it was a professional performance from the Royals. Though Graeme Smith didn’t look destructive on this day, he was brutally effective. It was surprising that the South African played just 49 deliveries despite carrying his bat through, but his unbeaten 75 (49b, 8x4, 2x6) broke the Challengers’’ resolve.

The Royals’ opening pair was totally untroubled and though Dravid used six bowlers and frequently changed them, it was a futile effort as Smith and Asnodkar put on 109 in 12.2 overs. Having played all their matches at home, the Royals had sized up the wicket perfectly and treated the listless Challengers’ attack with disdain.

The very fact that Anil Kumble picked up his first wicket of the tournament, playing in his sixth match, shows how ineffective they have been all through. Damningly, it was the only wicket that the Bangalore team managed to get.

The Challengers made three changes and gave Bangladesh’s left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak his first match in the IPL. It was a thoroughly wasted effort as Razzak’s first over cost 17 and he bowled just one more going for 29 in two. When a team are in a slump like the Challengers, these are the kind of selections that return to haunt you.

For the Royals, however, it was fodder as Asnodkar and Smith ran the Challengers ragged. The right-hander, who just couldn’t read Kumble, got to his fifty first, off 42 deliveries with seven boundaries and a six before cutting the leggie to Misbah-ul-Haq at short third-man.

Any hopes of a respite vanished as the in-form Shane Watson (46, 28b) and Smith put on an unconquered 88 for the second wicket off 46 balls with the South African completing his half-century off just 34 deliveries. Though the Royals fell short of the 200-mark, something which seemed a distinct possibility, it was far too much for the struggling Challengers.

The difference lay in the figures. While the Royals ran up 94 without loss in 10 overs, the Challengers were gasping at 5/3 in the third before limping to 38/4 at the half-way mark. If the Royals’ first fifty came off a mere 5.5 overs, the Challengers needed 11.4 overs by which time five of their batsmen were back in the dugout and chewing their nails.

Though skipper Dravid showed he can adapt himself to the format hitting some big sixes at the end in his unbeaten 75 off 36 deliveries, it was merely flogging a dead horse.

The Challengers are dead and buried and Warne’s men, if they play like this, can afford another long break.