IPL Match 33rd: Shane Watson stars in Royals' win

Shane Watson made full use of two dropped chances to score a blazing half-century which sealed a thrilling three-wicket win for Rajasthan Royals against Delhi Daredevils in their IPL Twenty20 match here on Sunday.

Chasing, 157 to win, the hosts overcame early jolts to post a convincing victory with five balls to spare.

The Delhi team, invited to bat, could put just 156 runs on the board, largely with the help of Farveej Maharoof's blistering knock of 39 down the order.

Watson's strokeful 74-run-knock came off just 40-balls with the help of five boundaries and five sixes.

His eventful innings came to an end when he was run out in the penultimate over.

Square leg umpire did not refer the decision to the third umpire but rival skipper Virender Sehwag pushed for it and eventually got rid of Watson as TV replays clearly showed he was short of his ground.

This opened the match again for the Delhi team but Mahesh Rawat (5) and Niraj Patel (4) did not lose their nerve and won the match on the first ball of the last over.

The visitors have to blame themselves for the defeat as first their star batsmen let them down and then they dropped catches, earned by their bowlers.

Graeme Smith (24) and Watson made the most of the dropped chances to bring back their team in the hunt as they put on a crucial 71-run partnership for the third wicket.

Smith was dropped on zero by Amit Mishra and Watson by skipper Virender Sehwag when the Australian was on individual score of 26 and the team was struggling at 59 for two.

The hosts were stuttering at 15 for two after five overs and just when it seemed the Delhi team was on course of pulling a improbable win, Smith-Watson combo lifted their team from the pits.

The partnership laid a strong foundation for the victory though the battle swung again in the favour of visitors with leg-spinner Amit Mishra (2/27) scalping two wickets in successive overs.

Mishra first dismissed Smith and then bowled Ravindra Jadeja (6) to give his team a good chance to come back in the match.

Earlier, a brilliant bowling supported by charged up fielding helped Rajasthan Royals restrict Delhi Daredevils to a modest total of 156 for seven.

The visitors failed to build partnerships and paid the price as they could not put enough runs on the board and handed a tough job to their bowlers to defend a modest total.

Host skipper Shane Warne used all his bowlers effectively and made life difficult for visiting batsmen until Farveej Maharoof hit a blistering 39-run knock towards the end.

Maharoof top scored for the Delhi team with the help of two boundaries and four sixes, all coming in Shane Warne's overs.

The Sri Lankan also shared a crucial 54-run partnership with compatriot Tilakratne Dilshan (18) to help his team past the 150-run mark.

Mahroof hit Warne for 26 runs in the penultimate over with the help of four sixes, lifting the spirits of a dejected Delhi team.

Shane Watson (2/21) and Siddharth Trivedi (2/28) were the most successful bowlers for the hosts.

Mascarenhas, who made his debut in the tournament, bowled well and used slow balls to good effects as it did help in containing dangerous Virender Sehwag.

Watson too on the other end, bowled in tandem as the pair gave away just 29 runs in the first four overs with fielders complimenting their bowlers well.

As the pressure mounted to score quick runs, Sehwag (17) perished to Watson when he drove him uppishly only to find Mohammad Kaif at backward point.

On down Shikhar Dhawan (3) did not last long as he started his walk back to pavilion seven balls later after a terrible mix up with Gautam Gambhir (31) resulted in his run out.

Gambhir then survived a run out chance when Munaf Patel failed to hit stumps when the Delhi opener tried to steal a run in rival skipper's over.

The left-handed batsman however could not use the chance and was dismissed by Siddharth Trivedi when he tried to loft the ball over the covers but only managed an inside edge on his stumps.