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Untitled Document
 Watson stars in Rajasthan Royals' win
12th May 2008 09:01 IST
Agencies
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 in Jaipur Sunday night.
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 Farveez 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 Sehwag when the Australian was on individual score of 26 and the team was struggling at 59/2.
The hosts were stuttering at 15/2 after five overs and just when it seemed the Delhi team was on course of pulling an 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 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.
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