Shane Watson hit a blazing 36-ball 58 before Shane Warne returned with a four-wicket haul as Rajasthan Royals edged out Deccan Chargers by two runs in a thrilling Indian Premier League match in Monday .
Watson blasted three fours and as many sixes but Rajasthan Royals suffered a middle-order batting collapse to be dismissed for 159 in 19.5 overs after skipper Shane Warne won the toss and elected to bat.
However, Warne produced a brilliant spell of spin bowling to wreck havoc in the rival camp, dismissing -- Anirudh Singh (9), Dwayne Smith (4), Azhar Bilakhia (2) and Ryan Harris (1) -- as the Royals shot out Deccans two runs off the target.
For Deccan, Rohit Sharma played a brilliant 44-ball 73-run knock but it went in vain as the home team succumbed to their fifth straight lose.
With this win, Rajasthan zoomed to the fourth place in the point tally with 10 points from 10 matches.
Needing six runs off six balls, Deccan lost RP Singh (3), Harmeet Singh (0) and last man Rohit in three consecutive balls as their semifinal hopes went up in smoke.
Chasing 160 to win, Gilchrist (34) gave Deccans a blistering start, clobbering a six and successive fours off Watson in the second over.
Laxman (6) also tried to follow suit and slammed a four off Dole in the third over before dragging one straight to Yusuf Pathan at deep square-leg.
Gilchrist, however, blasted consecutive sixes off Dole in the fifth over but the former Australian stumper holed out to Lumb at square-leg in the very next delivery as Deccan lost their second wicket at 47 for two in 4.5 overs.
Andrew Symonds (15) and Rohit Sharma then added 39 runs from 32 balls before the former's top-edge was caught by Faiz Faisal at extra cover off Shiddarth Trivedi.
Warne then rolled his arms and dismissed Anirudh Singh after wicketkeeper Naman Ojha took a good catch as Deccan slipped to 112 for four in 13.5 overs.
The Australian legend struck again in his next over, dismissing Dwayne Smith (4) as the home team lost half of their side for 120 in 15.3 overs.
Needing 40 runs off 27 balls, Rohit blasted three back to back boundaries in the last three balls of the 17th over to ease the pressure.
However, Warne claimed two more wickets in the next over -- Azhar Bilakhia (2) and Ryan Harris (0) -- to leave the Deccan strugglings at 139 for seven in 17.4 overs.
Needing 15 off 11 balls, Rohit slammed a four and a six of the 19th over to bring the target down to six off six balls but they lost their remaining three wickets in the last over as the match slipped out of their hand. PTI
