|
Royals crush Chargers
09/05/2008 20:31 - (SA)
Jaipur - Yusuf Pathan belted a gleeful half-century to guide the Rajasthan Royals to a crushing eight-wicket victory over the Deccan Chargers in their Indian Premier League match on Friday.
Australian star Adam Gilchrist had blazed a commanding half-century to take Deccan to 140 for eight after they were sent in to bat, but Pathan is such a strong striker of the ball that, even on a slowish pitch, Rajasthan cruised past that score with four overs to spare.
The victory took Rajasthan to the top of the log and maintained their unbeaten record at home and Shane Warne's team looking like lethal contenders for the title.
The outstanding Pathan smashed 68 off 37 balls, with nine fours and two sixes, and he was eventually out in the 13th over with just 32 more runs required when Herschelle Gibbs held a smart catch at long-off off left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.
Outcome was already obvious
Graeme Smith once again played the role of sheet-anchor to perfection, scoring 40 off 43 balls in their opening stand of 109.
He eventually fell to the left-arm seam of Rudra Pratap Singh, mistiming a lofted on-drive to wide mid-on, but the outcome was already obvious by then.
Despite the brilliance of Gilchrist, the Deccan Chargers were still situated in no-man's land after scoring 140 for eight.
Gilchrist stroked nine fours and a six in 49 balls as his 61 put Deccan in a strong position on 74 for one midway through their innings.
But fellow Australian Warne is a canny captain and a fine fightback in the field by Rajasthan meant the eventual Deccan total was eminently beatable.
The Sawai Mansingh Stadium pitch is a flat one, but run-scoring becomes difficult as the ball gets older and softer, although Gilchrist, such is his genius, batted as if it was easy-going throughout.
Lured Gilchrist into chasing a wide
Gibbs (19) partnered Gilchrist in an opening stand of 61 in eight overs and had just stroked Munaf Patel gorgeously through extra cover for his second boundary when he sparred at a delivery that bounced a bit more than expected and was caught behind.
Warne made two telling bowling changes after the 10th over with off-spinner Pathan, a star of Rajasthan's away win over Deccan with a top-class spell of off-spin, and seamer Siddharth Trivedi coming on.
Trivedi allowed few run-scoring opportunities as he conceded just eight runs in his three overs and he made the key breakthrough when he lured Gilchrist into chasing a wide delivery, the left-hander edging into wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat's gloves.
Warne in inspired form
Pathan removed Scott Styris (13) and the Chargers were suddenly in freefall.
The impulsive Shahid Afridi recklessly charged Warne and was caught for just a single and it needed Venugopal Rao's 23 not out off 11 balls for Deccan to at least make a game of it.
Warne was in inspired form, taking two for 20 in his four overs.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals:
Graeme Smith, Niraj Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Shane Watson, Mohammad Kaif, Ravindra Jadeja, Shane Warne, Mahesh Rawat, Sohail Tanveer, Munaf Patel.
Deccan Chargers:
Adam Gilchrist, Ravi Teja, Herschelle Gibbs, Rohit Sharma, Scott Styris, Venugopal Rao, Shahid Afridi, Sanjay Bangar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Paidikalva Vijaykumar, Pragyan Ojha.
|
Rugby
