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Shane Warne's Royals put up a fabulous show at Ahmedabad to crush the rampaging Deccan Chargers in a morale boosting 8 wicket win for the Rajasthan side. That win, their third on the trot takes the Royals to the third place in the points table in what has been an amazing turn of fortunes. The Chargers were restricted to 148 off their 20 overs thanks to some spirited bowling from the Royals before Michael Lumb and Yusuf Pathan played blinders to take them home in a dominating chase.

Adam Gilchrist won the toss, admist widespread confusion with Warney thinking he had won it, and had opted to bat first. As luck would have it though it was Gilly's side that made first use of the pitch. Both sides were coming on the back of a string of wins, and hence made just the one change each as Deccan brought back the fit again VVS Laxman for Monish Mishra while the Royals dropped Munaf Patel for Sumit Narwal.

Narwal began proceedings opening the bowling for the Royals and it took him only four deliveries to make his presence felt. Adam Gilchrist went for the big hit without wasting much time and instead miscued it to cover for Yusuf Pathan to gobble the big fish. That wicket brought in Herschelle Gibbs, another in-form player, and he promptly started off with two sixes to Abhishek Jhunjhunwala. Siddharth Trivedi too was taken for runs in his first over and Warne responded by bringing his strike bowler Shaun Tait into the attack.

Gibbs though, was in murderous mood and struck Tait's second ball for a beautiful straight boundary. Tait hit back soon, ending Laxman's miserable stay at the wicket, as the veteran batsman was caught off a miscued pull. That brought Andrew Symonds in and once again; a wicket did not result in the run-rate dropping as Symonds launched into the bowling right away. The last powerplay over produced 13 runs as Deccan raced to 55 off the first six despite losing two wickets.

Shane Warne brought himself into the attack at this point and that is when all the fun began. The first ball that he bowled to Gibbs lured the batsman out of the crease and then beautifully turned away as Warne turned on the magic once again. Two overs later, Symonds departed off a horrible mix-up with Rohit Sharma and at 71/4 off 8 overs; the Chargers seemed to be losing the plot. Sharma was joined by T Suman and the duo set about doing a mini-rebuild act and after a couple of quiet overs Sharma opened up against the erratic Trivedi.

Trivedi was taken for a six and a four and Warne immediately brought back Tait in order to keep the pressure on the Chargers. The move worked, and an in-swinging delivery right in the block hole was enough for Tait to uproot Suman's stumps. Venugopal Rao too followed suit and that left Rohit Sharma to negotiate the last six overs of the innings with the tail. To his credit though, Rohit stuck to the task and ensured that some timely blows late in the innings took Deccan to a respectable 148. He struck a straight six off Tait with some brute power before destroying Sumit Narwal's figures in the 19th over.

In a tricky chase, the first over normally decides the course of proceedings with quick wickets giving the bowling side the advantage while some quick runs releasing the pressure off the batting side and setting them on course. Michael Lumb struggled to get away off the first three balls from Chaminda Vaas and was inches away from being caught off Laxman off the fourth. Having survived though, he whipped the fifth and the sixth balls for boundaries and that set the tone for the rest of the innings.

Lumb never looked back, and treated the Ahmedabad crowd to some fireworks as he grew in confidence. RP Singh was taken to the cleaners as Lumb struck four consecutive boundaries off him in an over that yielded 20 runs. Naman Ojha joined the party soon, taking Rohit Shama's slow bowling for a few runs. The Royals finished the powerplay strongly at 54/0 and with a required run rate of just over 6.5 and all ten wickets in hand looked all set to wrap up the game rather early. Ojha fell soon after, coming down the track and missing the ball as his namesake Pragyan Ojha gave his side a look-in.

Yusuf Pathan walked out to the crease in a mood to celebrate his World Cup selection and began with a six off Ojha and tore into the same bowler two overs later to effectively end all hopes of a Deccan revival. His first six of the day was a mis-hit and yet cleared the boundary ropes as easily as his next seven sixes of the day. Gilchrist brought Chaminda Vaas back into the attack in a desperate move without much luck and though Lumb fell victim of yet another mix-up in the game, Pathan brought up his 50 with a booming six off Vaas the next over.

Pathan's last shot of the day yielded the same amount of runs as his first, as he brought up the win in style with a six off Rohit Sharma. Rajasthan's win augurs well for a tournament where the competition is only getting closer by the day and it's heartening to see a team rush back in the reckoning after being written off just a few days ago. Rajasthan have just a day's break before they meet the Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. Deccan too are in action on Sunday, with a trip to Navi Mumbai to take on the rampant Mumbai Indians next.

Mini Scorecard:
Deccan Chargers 148/9 (20 Overs, 7.40 rpo)
Sharma 49               Tait 3/22
Gibbs 25

Rajasthan Royals 151/2 (15.4 overs, 9.63 rpo)
Yusuf Pathan 73*       Ojha 1/40
Michael Lumb 45

Also Read: Kings XI Punjab vs. Kolkata Knight Riders Match Preview

File Photograph Copyright: ICC World T20

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