Warne's Royals sneak home in thrilling finish

Chargers choke to suffer two-run defeat

Chargers, chasing 160 for victory, were bowled out for 157 off the penultimate ball as they lost wickets in a heap towards the end.

Rohit Sharma’s half-century (73, 44 balls) kept them in the hunt as they required just six runs off the final over bowled by Siddarth Trivedi but nerves had a telling effect in the end. Sharma was the last man out, holing out to Abhishek Raut going for a big hit as Rajasthan celebrated.

Warne claimed four for 21 in his four overs, dismissing Anirudh Singh (9), Dwayne Smith (4), Azhar Bilakhia (2) and Ryan Harris (1), to be named man of the match.
Rajasthan have 10 points from 10 matches and are placed fourth on the table.
Chasing 160 to win, Gilchrist (34) gave Deccans a blistering start, clobbering a six and successive fours off Watson in the second over.

Laxman (6) also tried to follow suit and slammed a four off Dole in the third over before dragging one straight to Yusuf Pathan at deep square-leg.

Gilchrist, however, blasted consecutive sixes off Dole in the fifth over but the former Australian stumper holed out to Lumb at square-leg in the very next delivery as Deccan lost their second wicket at 47 for two in 4.5 overs.

Andrew Symonds (15) and Rohit Sharma then added 39 runs from 32 balls before the former’s top-edge was caught by Faiz Faisal at extra cover off Trivedi. With Warne turning on his magic, pressure started to mount and Chargers crumbled, suffering their sixth defeat.

Earlier, Watson stood amidst the ruins after Michael Lumb (15), Naman Ojha (1), Yusuf Pathan (5), Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (11) and Abhishek Raut (0) were dismissed cheaply.
Watson played a dashing knock to anchor the Rajasthan innings but their batting capitulated as they lost first half of their side for 130 in 15.2 overs, before losing the last five wickets for just 29 runs.

Rajasthan innings had a dramatic start when Ryan Harris claimed a juggling catch off Lumb. But to his dismay, the third umpire ruled Lumb not out as it was found that the ball had kissed the grass. Getting a life, Lumb picked up the first six of the day hitting Harris over long-off.

Lumb picked up two more fours in the next over off Dwayne Smith before Harris took a catch at deep midwicket off RP Singh in the third over. One ball later, Singh struck again dismissing Naman Ojha (1) when he had him caught at cover by Harris as Rajasthan were reduced to 17 for two.

However, Faisal (36) and Watson picked up ones and twos and occasional boundaries to steady the ship with a 51-ball 77-run third wicket partnership to take Rajasthan to 94 in 11 overs.

Wickets started to tumble from then on and only Watson’s big hits helped Rajasthan reach a competitive total.

Score Board

RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Michael Lumb c Harris b R P Singh 15, Naman Ojha c Harris b R P Singh 1, Faiz Fazal c Bilakhia b Ojha 36, Shane Watson c Anirudh Singh b R P Singh 58, Yusuf Pathan c Laxman b Harris 5; Abhishek Jhunjhunwala c Laxman b Harmeet 11, Abhishek Raut lbw Harmeet 0, Shane Warne (run out) 1, Morne Morkel (not out) 7, Aditya Dole c Symonds b Harris 4, Siddharth Trivedi b Smith 9. Extras (B-2, LB-4, W-6) 12. Total (all out, 19.5 overs) 159.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-17, 3-94, 4-103, 5-130, 6-130, 7-136, 8-140, 9-145.
Bowling: Ryan Harris 4-0-34-2, Dwayne Smith 2.5-0-22-1, Rudra Pratap Singh 4-0-17-3, Harmeet Singh 4-0-25-2, Andrew Symonds 2-0-18-0, Pragyan Ojha 3-0-37-1.

Deccan Chargers: VVS Laxman c Pathan b Dole 6; Adam Gilchrist c Lumb b Dole 34; Rohit Sharma c Raut b Trivedi 73; Andrew Symonds c Fazal b Trivedi 15; Anirudh Singh c Ojha b Warne 9; Dwayne Smith c Dole b Warne 4; Azhar Bilakhia c Raut b Warne 2; Ryan Harris b Warne 1; RP Singh c Morkel b Trivedi 3; Harmeet Singh (run out) 0; Pragyan Ojha (not out) 0. Extras (B-1, LB-2, W-6, NB-1) 10. Total (all out; 19.5 overs) 157.
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-47, 3-86, 4-112, 5-120, 6-137, 7-139, 8-156, 9-157. Bowling: Yusuf Pathan 2-0-3-0; Shane Watson 3-0-40-0; Aditya Dole 4-0-42-2; Morne Morkel 4-0-32-0; Siddharth Trivedi 2.5-0-16-3; Shane Warne 4-0-21-4.