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Warne’s Rajasthan Royals reigns supreme

G. Viswanath

Chennai Super Kings goes down fighting in a last-ball finish

— Photo: K. Pichumani

SCINTILLATING DISPLAY: Yusuf Pathan, who was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match, came up with an allround show to take Rajasthan Royals to triumph on Sunday.

Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals had the serendipity of scripting a glorious last-ball win in the DLF-IPL final in front of a full house at the D.Y. Patil Stadium here on Sunday. Unperturbed by the fall of a clutch of wickets and undaunted by the climbing run rate, the Jaipur outfit proceeded to dare the rival.

Yusuf Pathan (56, 39b) was the most daring batsman profited mostly from glaring lapses made on the field by Chennai Super Kings, especially by Suresh Raina and Manpreet Gony off his own bowling.

Pathan capitalised on the luck that came his way and secured the final victory for his team with a blazing knock that had four mighty sixes and three boundary shots and forged a crucial fourth wicket partnership with Shane Watson that fetched 65 runs.

Fittingly Shane Warne, who had moulded a team filled with rookies into a winning combination, was in the thick of action when the moment came, although it was the left-handed Sohail Tanvir who dispatched L. Balaji for a four off the last ball of the tournament.

Royals needed eight runs off the last over and Balaji was given the responsibility of bowling the make or mar over. He bowled a wide, and the eighth wicket pair managed to steer the side to a phenomenal triumph on the final day of the IPL.

Raina’s steady hands had worked efficiently to make good runs in the first session and then held a sharp catch at backward point. A catch that came off the bat of Pathan when Royals’ score was 75 for three was a regulation catch he would have taken 99 times out of 100.

It turned out be a costly lapse and perhaps the title too went down with it. Later he ran out Pathan with a direct hit, but by then Royals was within striking distance of the target.

Earlier Raina’s ingenuity and purposeful batting paved the way for Chennai Super Kings to post a modest total. It was a peculiar first session when the left hander was the lone batsman who came close to dominating the bowling. Mahendra Singh Dhoni added valuable runs in the end to take the total to 163.

Steady start

Super Kings made a steady start and eschewed risks. Sohail Tanvir was not allowed to impose upon himself in the first over and dictate terms. Not long ago the left-arm seamer had struck the big blows at Jaipur removing Parthiv Patel and Stephen Fleming in almost identical fashion. Doubts still persist if Asad Rauf, the Pakistan umpire in that league match was fair in handing out a favourable decision in the first over itself.

On Sunday Billy Bowden did not show interest although Tanvir was as lively. Tanvir made no more impression in the first over, in fact he deviated down the leg side and Patel turned his wrists and deflected the ball to the fine leg fence.

The Rajsthan Royals captain Shane Warne noticed Tanvir’s predicament in the first over and even quickly summed up the sluggish nature of the pitch.

Spectacular ceremony

If the opening ceremony was the rage of Bangalore on April 18, the closing ceremony that had a blend of typically Indian and some Western culture, was no less spectacular. The laser light show was superb.

It was a clearly a distraction, before the start of the cup final delayed by 15 minutes. The two teams had to put up with it for a little over an hour, but once Warne won the toss and invited Super Kings to bat it was predictably going to be serious business.

Warne placed two slips for Patel and two for S. Vidyut. Not a single authentic shot was played until the ninth over when Patel pulled a short ball from off-spinner Yusuf Pathan front of mid wicket. It was evident that Patel was going to risk chances.

Once he came down the pitch and directed Shane Watson’s short ball over extra cover. Runs accrued to the Super Kings at a steady pace, with Warne trying to unsettle the batsmen by affecting four changes by the eighth over.

The first five overs produced 39 brisk runs before Vidyut fell to Pathan in the second ball of the last of the power play overs. By now Warne had also dispersed the standard field of one slip or two slips and point and cover point to the left handers. He was keen to contain and in a large way succeeded and Pathan even managed to force an error from Patel for Kamran Akmal to control a catch.

The advent of Warne always stirs up action, but on this occasion he was at the receiving end from Raina, Albie Morkel and Dhoni. Warne’s magic did not work and was punished at a little over eight runs an over. But Pathan turned out to be lucky for Royals as he brought a halt to the powerful blows of Morkel who had hoisted a six each off Warne and the off-spinner.

Both the teams appeared a trifle anxious. The slow surface came in the way of the batsmen to accelerate, especially after Raina had made an attractive 43 off 30 balls.

The scores: Chennai Super Kings: P.Patel c Akmal b Y. Pathan 38, S. Vidyut c Jadeja b Y. Pathan 16, S. Raina c Jadeja b Watson 43, A. Morkel c Akmal b Y. Pathan 16, M.S. Dhoni (not out) 29, C. Kapugedera c Asnodkar b Tanvir 8, S. Badrinath (not out) 6, Extras (b-1, lb-2, nb-1, w-3) 7; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs) 163.

Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-64, 3-95, 4-128, 5-148.

Rajasthan Royals bowling: Tanvir 4-0-40-1, Watson 4-0-29-1, Munaf Patel 2-0-14-0, Y. Pathan 4-0-22-3, Trivedi 2-0-21-0, Warne 4-0-34-0.

Rajasthan Royals: N. Patel b Gony 2, S. Asnodkar c Raina b Morkel 28, K. Akmal (run out) 6, S. Watson b Muralitharan 28, Y. Pathan (run out) 56 M. Kaif c Dhoni b Muralitharan 12, R. Jadeja c Kapugedera b Morkel 0, S. Warne (not out) 9, S. Tanvir (not out) 9, Extras (b-1, lb-6, nb-2, w-5) 14; Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs) 164.

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-41, 3-42, 4-107, 5-139, 6-139,7-143.

Chennai Super Kings bowling: Ntini 4-1-21-0, Gony 4-0-30-1, Morkel 4-0-25-2, Balaji 4-0-42-0, Muralitharan 4-0-39-2.

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