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Rajasthan Royals trounced their way to an 8-wicket win over Deccan Chargers in Saturday’s day game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. After the Chargers had been curbed by Siddharth Trivedi and Royals Captain Shane Warne, who bowled some tight overs and got timely wickets through pace variation, the Royals used a blazing start from their keeper-opener Amit Paunikar, and a confident undefeated fifty from Johan Botha, to overhaul the Chargers’ total of 137 with 7 balls to spare.

Both the teams packed their XI with local youngsters, eager to get a feel of the conditions and test their local strength early on. Shaun Tait was unlucky to miss out on a place in the Royals XI, Jacob Oram’s batting giving him the edge over the fiery fast bowler. Shane Warne won the toss and decided to give his bowlers a go on a pitch that was benign for bowlers and batsmen alike.

If the Chargers intended to remedy their abysmal record at Home, where they have been utterly winless for three seasons, they went about it in a headless way. The fact that they were as unidentifiable as a UFO, with their completely changed pool of players, did not help. Opener Shikhar Dhawan set the ball rolling the right way – towards the boundary! He essayed some jazzy stroke-play along with Ishank Jaggi, pulling and driving the likes of Oram and Amit Singh. The crest, which took the score to 40 for no loss, ran on till the fifth over, in which Singh came back to suck Dhawan, with a fatal change of pace, into playing the ball right into the deep fielder’s hands for a nice cameo 24, off 15 balls. Then Siddharth Trivedi got stuck into the Deccan batsmen.

This he did by getting the ball to stick in the pitch with a series of slow bouncers, the same weapon that thwarted the batsmen in the tourney opener on Friday at Chepauk. In the space of a couple of operative overs, the fast bowler had checked the coasting run rate, sent back the Chargers Captain and MVP Kumar Sangakkara back for nought, and got Bharat Chipli (6) out with another stagnating bouncer the next over. Warne bowled an indecipherable spell to end Jaggi’s vigil for 25. JP Duminy (14) flattered early with a waltzing sixer off Warne, but it was false promise, as he struggled to pick Warne’s variations, and ultimately gave out with a sliced attempt at releasing the pressure. The scoring rate was taking a beating too, a promising opening stand having been eroded away with starving bowling to leave the Chargers at 77/5 after 13 overs. Deccan will have been staring at a collapse, if it were not for a spectacular partnership between Daniel Christian and local boy Ravi Teja.

Christian got stuck into Johan Botha, using the bottom hand to dispatch a couple of sixers and a four to the fence in his 19-ball innings of 26, which was brought to an end by Trivedi, who threw in one more of his deceptively paced bouncers to bag his third victim. If Christian pulverized, Teja caressed the sneakiest of paddles and cuts before joining the ranks of those done in by the bouncer when he pulled Amit Singh inefficiently to fine-leg for an innings of 28. Singh completed a three-for when he engendered a pull from Dale Steyn (7) a couple of balls later. The pair of charges from Christian and Teja notwithstanding, the choking bowling from Warne and Trivedi had been enough to pull the score back, and the Chargers had chalked up a below-par 137 at the end of their 20 overs.

The second innings came under way with both sides matching the other’s thrust. Small-made Amit Paunikar channeled the spirit of another aggressive diminutive opening wicket-keeper Romesh Kaluwitharana, and struck up a whirlwind start in which he played classy pulls, lofts, and soft glances to the boundary. From the other side, however, Ishant Sharma was rustling up a storm of his own, serving up snorters from good length at steamy pace. Pragyan Ojha was right in the line of Paunikar’s fire, and was taken off after 2 overs of carnage. While Steyn was punished by Paunikar for some errant lengths, Sharma set things back on an even keel with his stingy spell. Ironically, however, it was Steyn who made the first inroads, pegging away at the off-stump channel to engender, in the sixth over, a cut from Paunikar’s (20) flailing cut attempt. Rahul Dravid, opening for the Royals, was playing a wholly different brand of cricket, nudging and defending his way into a platform, so that the score at the halfway stage was a stable 60 off 10 overs.

Johan Botha was surprisingly sent in at no.3, the most pivotal batting position in the order. He operated with consummate ease, batting like he was Ricky Ponting in form, reverse-sweeping, sweeping, driving, pulling, glancing his way, even as Dravid (28) was castled by a change of pace from Steyn. Christian was loose, and he made Botha’s stint as one-down batsman a hospitable one. The equation, with the last five to go, left Royals with 45 to get with 8 wickets in hand. Amit Mishra was unlucky, a catch dropped off his bowling, and his figures messed up by an aggressive Ross Taylor. Taylor pulled and slogged, true to his nature, no mercy shown even to Sharma’s good length.

With 15 to get from 12, Ojha was brought back as the final roll of the dice. But, he mixed it up with a pot pourri of full tosses and leg-side dollies, to allow the 15 to be plundered with an over still to go. And the Deccan Chargers’ bowl at home went a-begging yet again!

Teams:

Deccan Chargers: Shikhar Dhawan, Ishank Jaggi, Kumar Sangakkara, Bharat Chipli, JP Duminy, Daniel Christian, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Dale Steyn, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha.

Rajasthan Royals: Amit Paunikar, Rahul Dravid, Johan Botha, Ross Taylor, Abhishek Raut, Ashok Menaria, Amit Singh, Jacob Oram, Shane Warne, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny.

Scorecard:

Deccan Chargers: 137/8 (20 overs, 6.85 runs per over)
D Ravi Teja 28 (20 balls) S Trivedi 3/15
Christian 26 (19 balls) A Singh 3/35

Rajasthan Royals: 141/2 (18.5 overs, 7.48 runs per over)
J Botha 67 (47 balls) D Steyn 2/18
R Dravid 28 (35 balls) I Sharma 0/24

Rajasthan Royals won by 8 wickets and 7 balls to spare

Also Read: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers Match Preview

File Photograph Copyright: Chris Brown

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