Bangalore: A fine all-round display by Shane Watson, who scored an unbeaten half-century after ensnaring two crucial wickets with the new ball, led the Rajasthan Royals to their third straight win in the IPL.

The Bangalore Royal Challengers were at the receiving end this time, succumbing to a seven wicket defeat at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

The one thing that stood out was intensity, which the home team failed to match with that of a young Jaipur brigade.

Watson (61 not out, 41 balls, 8x4, 2x6) and Graeme Smith (49, 42 balls, 8x4) finished off the job half-done by their bowlers.

The visiting bowlers made most of the favourable conditions, after skipper-cum-coach Shane Warne elected to bowl first and restricted Challengers to 135/8. The score was overhauled in just 17.1 overs.

The Aussie-Protean duo was cool and composed to start with but hurried through, as they got closer to the target. Watson in particular showed no mercy on the opposition bowlers.

Bangalore's total was largely due to the heroics of Ross Taylor in the earlier part of the innings and Praveen Kumar in the latter. But it was not enough to get them close to their first victory at home.

Royal Challengers lost skipper Rahul Dravid on the second ball of the match and it wasn't a start that the Royal Challengers were looking for. Dravid failed to control a pull shot off Watson and holed to Jadeja. This meant that the former Indian skipper's woeful run at his home stadium continued.

But this had little impact on Ross Taylor, who took control of the proceedings. The well-built Kiwi cut loose immediately after arriving in the middle. Taylor was in impetuous touch as he clobbered two consecutive sixes off Sohail Tanvir.

Jacques Kallis joined the party choosing Watson as his target and smashed three boundaries in one over. He along with Taylor added 43 in just 25 balls.

Just when the duo was looking dangerous, Siddharth Trivedi sent Kallis back to the hut. Taylor looked good for a half-ton, but was cut short by Munaf Patel.

From then on, it was the repeat of the last match as the wickets started to fall in a quick succession. Once the top-half of the batting order was back in the pavilion inside 10 overs, it was a matter of how long the tail will wag. The only positive from the match for the hosts is that they managed to surpass the score of 82 that they had scored against Kolkata Knight Riders.