Aman Joshi beats us twice in one evening

Twenty overs at Parc Sorbonne, and we put the Royals in. For a while it looked shrewd. Rizwan Shaikh took 2 for 19, Amit Kumar 2 for 28, and the innings was going nowhere in particular. Then Aman Joshi arrived. Seven fours, one six, 62 not out from 39 balls, and a total of 159 for 6 that had looked at least thirty runs away.

He was not finished. Joshi came back with the ball and took 4 for 15 from his four overs, Rohit Sharma among them for the third time this season, caught behind square. Amit Kumar's 33 from 26 and Sukhjit Singh's 28 kept us in touch, Lakshma Reddy added 23, and with six overs left it was still there to be won. It was not. Eight down for 125 with eleven balls unused, beaten by 34, and the player of the match award was the least contentious decision of the night.