IPL Match - Jaipur Vs Mohali - (Watson stars in Jaipur's Royal victory)

aipur: A magnificent unconquered 76 by Shane Watson steered the Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket win over the King's XI, Punjab in the sixth match of the inaugural IPL tournament at the Sawai Man Singh stadium here on Monday.


Watson, who smashed five fours and five sixes in his 49-ball knock was ably supported by Ravindra Jadeja who made an unbeaten 36 with the help of five boundaries and one six. The duo put an unbroken 69-run stand as Jaipur cruised home in 18.1 overs.


Chasing 166 Jaipur got off to a shaky start, losing Mohammad Kaif (five), Yousuf Pathan (seven) and Kamran Akmal (17) early. But then Darren Lehmann (17) after struggling in the beginning put 51 runs for the fourth wicket as Jaipur stayed in contention to clinch the game.


After Lehmann was nailed by Irfan Pathan, Jadeja and Watson not only ensured there no further hiccups in the Jaipur innings but also took the erratic Mohali bowling to the cleaners.


Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla who had a horrid outing against Chennai was once again flayed, giving away 27 runs in his two overs. S Sreesanth accounted for 38 runs in his 3.1 overs as Watson and company took him apart.


Earlier, some disciplined bowling by Jaipur restricted Mohali to 166-8 in their allotted 20 overs.


Powered by skipper Yuvraj Singh's 34-ball 57, the Mohali team managed a respectable total after Shane Warne' men dominated proceedings for a sizable passage of the innings. 18 boundaries and seven sixes were hit during the innings courtesy a blazing start and Yuvraj's flourish in the middle.


Karan Goel (26) got Mohali off to a flier clobbering three boundaries and two sixes before Munaf Patel, who received heavy punishment from the southpaw, cleaned him up with a yorker.


And then the introduction of spin turned the tide as Shane Warne sent back Kumar Sangakkara (20) and James Hopes (16) while Dinesh Salunke scalped Mahela Jayawardene (two) to reduce Mohali to 73-4.


It was then left to skipper Yuvraj Singh to do the rescue act and he did just that with some help from the fielders. Yuvraj who was dropped on 15 by Darren Lehmann and then by Mohammad Kaif on 29, smashed a blistering half-century which comprised six fours and three sixes. He added 63 with Irfan Pathan before Warne trapped him leg-before in his last over. The leg-spinner finished with figures of 3-19 off his four overs.


Mohali then lost two more wickets without adding a run in attempts to up the ante. But a late surge by Piyush Chawla, who made 24 off 11 boundaries, some respectability in the total.


Both teams lost their opening matches and will be looking to register their first win in the competition. Mohali were beaten to Chennai and Jaipur were comprehensively outplayed by Delhi on Sunday.


While the Yuvraj Singh-led team from Punjab, like in their previous encounter, will have the full squad at their discretion, the Jaipur outfit will still be without many of their overseas players like Graeme Smith.


Mahela Jayawardene replaced Simon Katich in the eleven for Mohali while Kamaran Akmal made his way into the Jaipur side.


Teams:


King's XI Punjab (Mohali): Karan Goel, James Hopes, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Yuvraj Singh (capt), Mahela Jayawardene, Irfan Pathan, Sunny Sohal, Brett Lee, Piyush Chawla, Wilkin Mota, S Sreesanth.


Rajasthan Royals (Jaipur): Kamran Akmal, Yusuf Pathan, Shane Watson, Mohammad Kaif, Darren Lehmann, Ravindra Jadeja, Pankaj Singh, Dinesh Salunkhe, Shane Warne (capt), Siddharth Trivedi, Munaf Patel.