Yusuf Blitz seals deal for Royals

By K. MOSES

Jaipur, May 9: The Rajasthan Royals kept their slate clean against Deccan Chargers by winning the return leg of their IPL match by eight wickets at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Friday.

After restricting the visitors to a modest 140/8, the home side rode on a big opening stand of 109 between a lucky Yusuf Pathan and the gritty Graeme Smith (40) to overhaul the target with much to spare.

Rajasthan could have been in trouble in the second over had umpire Mark Benson upheld a confident leg before wicket appeal against Pathan off R.P. Singh. Television replays showed the ball would have clipped his leg stump. The batsman was on 1 and the team score 10 then.

Pathan was let off again, on 30, when Vijay Kumar misjudged a skier after the batsman tried to hit Shahid Afridi out of the ground. The ball dropped right in the 30-yard circle, not too far away from the batsman who was on 30 then. The Royals were 51/0 in the seventh over.

Pathan finally fell going for the big one though, caught by Herschelle Gibbs on the boundary off Pragyan Ojha, but not before he had done the damage by slamming 68 in just 37 balls, nine of which he sent to the boundary and two over it.

Earlier, stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist’s innings was one of dominance as he intimidated the bowlers, smashing them around the ground. The four boundaries that he struck and a six that sailed into the stands were testimony to his slam-bang approach.

The left-hander cracked Sohail Tanveer through the covers first ball to fence, and again over point to take eight runs off the first over. He was severe the next time Tanveer came around as well, cutting loose to crash three more boundaries as the scoreboard began to gallop.

However, Gibbs lived dangerously at the other end. He was dropped by his South African captain Graeme Smith at point as he cut paceman Munaf Patel. The opener appeared shaky even as he scored a couple of boundaries before edging Patel to wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat. By then, the Chargers were sitting pretty at 61 in the eighth over.

Then, Warne introduced himself into the attack and applied the brakes by maintaining a tight line and length. The dipping run rate translated into pressure on the batsmen, who, going for the big shots, lost wickets in a heap.

Scot Stryis, Gilchrist, Shahid Afridi, Rohit Sharma and Sanjay Bangar fell in quick succession as Chargers sank to 105/6 in the 15th over.

With none to hold the innings together, former India player Y. Venugopal Rao put up a rare rearguard resistance to guide the side to a modest total. Venu remained unbeaten on a quick 22 which included three boundaries and a six.