Royals escape to victory

Nagpur: The night that had started on a dramatic note ended even more remarkably with an amazing last over seeing Rajasthan Royals escaping to victory over Deccan Chargers by two runs at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur.

Rohit Sharma was the last line of attack, and defence, against the raiding visitors. All around Sharma lay the ruins of a disjointed Deccan Chargers batting line-up. But the 22-year-old (73) couldn’t finish the job and was the last wicket to fall, handing the visitors a memorable win.

The twin Shanes of Royals were the heroes for the visitors, but the real excitement and turning point came in the last over of Siddarth Trivedi, which saw three wickets fall. Needing just six from the last over, Deccan were cruising to victory, but the wily Warne had other plans.

Trivedi too came good when it mattered, sealing the win for his team. With three needed off the last two balls, Sharma succumbed to the pressure to allow the Royals to keep their record of never losing while defending a target of over 150.

The night belonged to Shane Warne. Warnie had cricket lovers reminisce the good ole years when he toyed with South Africa or England playing for Australia. The Royals’ captain turned back the clock to totally mystify the DC middle-order and claim four important wickets.

The match started dramatically with the first over of the Rajasthan Royals innings seeing opener Michael Lumb give a regulation return catch to Ryan Harris. The third umpire was not convinced of its legality – the ball appeared to have been grounded - and Lumb was called back.

Lumb, though, could not do too much with his chance and got out in the third over after a few lusty hits. Ryan Harris had reason to smile taking the catch cleanly at deep midwicket to dismiss Lumb.

The ball seemed to be following Harris tonight as he took his second catch of the night to dismiss Ojha off RP Singh’s bowling in the same over.

But he dropped Shane Watson crucially when the Australian was on six. Harris couldn’t be kept out of the game tonight and he claimed Pathan’s wicket with a short-pitched delivery.

Shane Watson carried on even as he kept losing partners at the other end and scored his second half-century of IPL 2010. But just when he was needed to pick up the pace, the all-rounder fell to RP Singh for 58.

Unlike previous matches, the Chargers kept a tight leash on the opposition in the death overs. They took six wickets in the last five overs and conceded only 31 runs. Rajasthan couldn’t even play out their complete quota of 20 overs, getting all out on the penultimate ball of the innings and set the Chargers a target of 160.