<p>Ajinkya Rahane struck a scintillating 67 while Rahul Dravid produced an age-defying innings to maintain Rajasthan Royals’ impeccable ‘home’ record as the hosts defeated Pune Warriors by five wickets in a thrilling Indian Premier League match on Sunday.</p>.<p>The win propelled Rajasthan to fourth position in the league table with 14 points from 11 <br />matches while Pune Warriors suffered their seventh successive loss in the tournament with no chances of them making the play-offs. By the virtue of this win, Royals also exacted a ‘sweet revenge’ on their opponents, having tasted defeat on the previous occasion when the two sides met in Pune on April 11.<br /><br />The match went down to the wire as Royals lost some quick wickets after the second strategic time-out was taken but Stuart Binny’s unbeaten 13-ball 32 ensured that ‘Fort SMS’ wasn’t breached.<br /><br />Royals registered their sixth win at home with one ball to spare. Chasing a challenging target of 179 runs, Rahane and Dravid (58, 40 balls, 9x4, 6x1) provided their team a solid start, adding 98 runs for the opening-wicket partnership in just 11.5 overs.<br /><br />Both made short work of the Pune bowlers and enthralled a sell-out crowd at the Sawai Man Singh stadium with their vast repertoire of stroke-play.<br /><br />Dravid was the more aggressive of the two as he cut and drove Pune bowlers to reach his third fifty in the tournament in just 36 balls with a straight six over long-on off spinner Rahul Sharma.<br /><br />Earlier, Robin Uthappa struck a fluent half-century and shared 97-run opening stand with skipper Aaron Finch as Pune Warriors posted a challenging 178 for four in 20 overs.<br />Uthappa scored an aggressive 41-ball 54 and, together in the company of Finch, who made an equally impressive 32-ball 45 after Warriors decided to bat first at the Sawai Man Singh stadium.<br /><br />Mitchell Marsh provided the late flourish with a 21-ball 35, laced with two fours and three sixes, as Pune batsmen finally came good with the bat.<br /><br />score board<br /><br />PUNE WARRIORS: Robin Uthappa (run out) 54, Aaron Finch b Cooper 45, Yuvraj Singh c Cooper b Trivedi 15, Mitchell Marsh (not out) 35, Angelo Mathews c Rahane b Faulkner 18, Mahesh Rawat (not out) 0. Extras (W-11) 11. Total (for 4 wkts, 20 overs) 178. <br />Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-124, 3-129, 4-170.<br />Bowling: Ajit Chandila 2-0-23-0, James Faulkner 4-0-35-1, Shane Watson 4-0-29-0, Kevon Cooper 4-0-39-1, Siddharth Trivedi 4-0-33-1, Stuart Binny 2-0-19-0.<br />RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Rahul Dravid c Marsh b Mathews 58, Ajinkya Rahane c Rahul b Bhuvneshwar 67, Shane Watson b Parnell 5, Brad Hodge c Rahul b Parnell 4, Stuart Binny (not out) 32, Sanju Samson c Birla b Parnell 10, James Faulkner (not out) 3. Extras (W-3) 3. Total (for 5 wkts, 19.5 overs) 182.<br />Fall of wickets: 1-98, 2-128, 3-136, 4-150, 5-175. Bowling: Bhuneshwar Kumar 4-0-38-1, K Upadhyay 3-0-29-0, Wayne Parnell 3.5-0-27-3, Rahul Sharma 4-0-38-0, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-16-0, Angelo Mathews 3-0-34-1.</p>
<p>Ajinkya Rahane struck a scintillating 67 while Rahul Dravid produced an age-defying innings to maintain Rajasthan Royals’ impeccable ‘home’ record as the hosts defeated Pune Warriors by five wickets in a thrilling Indian Premier League match on Sunday.</p>.<p>The win propelled Rajasthan to fourth position in the league table with 14 points from 11 <br />matches while Pune Warriors suffered their seventh successive loss in the tournament with no chances of them making the play-offs. By the virtue of this win, Royals also exacted a ‘sweet revenge’ on their opponents, having tasted defeat on the previous occasion when the two sides met in Pune on April 11.<br /><br />The match went down to the wire as Royals lost some quick wickets after the second strategic time-out was taken but Stuart Binny’s unbeaten 13-ball 32 ensured that ‘Fort SMS’ wasn’t breached.<br /><br />Royals registered their sixth win at home with one ball to spare. Chasing a challenging target of 179 runs, Rahane and Dravid (58, 40 balls, 9x4, 6x1) provided their team a solid start, adding 98 runs for the opening-wicket partnership in just 11.5 overs.<br /><br />Both made short work of the Pune bowlers and enthralled a sell-out crowd at the Sawai Man Singh stadium with their vast repertoire of stroke-play.<br /><br />Dravid was the more aggressive of the two as he cut and drove Pune bowlers to reach his third fifty in the tournament in just 36 balls with a straight six over long-on off spinner Rahul Sharma.<br /><br />Earlier, Robin Uthappa struck a fluent half-century and shared 97-run opening stand with skipper Aaron Finch as Pune Warriors posted a challenging 178 for four in 20 overs.<br />Uthappa scored an aggressive 41-ball 54 and, together in the company of Finch, who made an equally impressive 32-ball 45 after Warriors decided to bat first at the Sawai Man Singh stadium.<br /><br />Mitchell Marsh provided the late flourish with a 21-ball 35, laced with two fours and three sixes, as Pune batsmen finally came good with the bat.<br /><br />score board<br /><br />PUNE WARRIORS: Robin Uthappa (run out) 54, Aaron Finch b Cooper 45, Yuvraj Singh c Cooper b Trivedi 15, Mitchell Marsh (not out) 35, Angelo Mathews c Rahane b Faulkner 18, Mahesh Rawat (not out) 0. Extras (W-11) 11. Total (for 4 wkts, 20 overs) 178. <br />Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-124, 3-129, 4-170.<br />Bowling: Ajit Chandila 2-0-23-0, James Faulkner 4-0-35-1, Shane Watson 4-0-29-0, Kevon Cooper 4-0-39-1, Siddharth Trivedi 4-0-33-1, Stuart Binny 2-0-19-0.<br />RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Rahul Dravid c Marsh b Mathews 58, Ajinkya Rahane c Rahul b Bhuvneshwar 67, Shane Watson b Parnell 5, Brad Hodge c Rahul b Parnell 4, Stuart Binny (not out) 32, Sanju Samson c Birla b Parnell 10, James Faulkner (not out) 3. Extras (W-3) 3. Total (for 5 wkts, 19.5 overs) 182.<br />Fall of wickets: 1-98, 2-128, 3-136, 4-150, 5-175. Bowling: Bhuneshwar Kumar 4-0-38-1, K Upadhyay 3-0-29-0, Wayne Parnell 3.5-0-27-3, Rahul Sharma 4-0-38-0, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-16-0, Angelo Mathews 3-0-34-1.</p>