Rajasthan hold nerve to secure win

Shane Warne claimed 3-24 to help his Rajasthan side to victory over Mumbai

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Munaf Patel sent down an exceptional final over to guide Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling two-run victory over Mumbai Indians in Durban.

Chasing 146 for victory, Harbhajan Singh and Abhishek Nayar had taken their side to 140 for six with eight balls still to go but the dismissal of the latter in the penultimate over set up a frantic finish.

And Patel (2-22) conceded only one run for the remaining three wickets, two of which were run-outs, as Mumbai failed to close out the win.

They had looked well out of the game before then but Sachin Tendulkar (40) and Nayar (35) gave them hope after Rob Quiney (51) had earlier helped the defending champions post a competitive total.

Graeme Smith was dropped early in the Rajasthan innings, with JP Duminy the culprit at point, and the South Africa captain and Quiney put on 43 before the loss of the former for 19.

Yusuf Pathan came in and tried to play his usual attacking game.

He succeeded initially, slamming Lasith Malinga for two fours in the eighth over, but the introduction of Chetanya Nanda spelt the end of the all-rounder, who holed out to Malinga at deep square leg with an attempted sweep on 17.

Quiney and Ravindra Jadeja (42) looked in good touch when they came together, with the former raising his fifty in 37 deliveries.

The pair put on 61 in six overs but Malinga came back to put on the brakes when he bowled the Australian in the 16th over with the score on 126.

Thereafter, only 19 runs came in the last four overs as the batting side ended on 145 for seven.

Mumbai’s response never really got going with new-look top three Dwayne Bravo (one), Ajinkya Rahane (three) and Yogesh Takawale (18) all falling within the six powerplay overs that also yielded a mediocre 23 runs.

That brought Sanath Jayasuriya and Tendulkar together but they took their time to settle in, reaching the mid-innings strategy break at 54 for three.

Shane Warne then had the Sri Lankan caught at midwicket by Pathan for 16, followed by the in-form Duminy (four), bowled by Sidarath Trivedi.

Tendulkar, though, refused to throw in the towel, smashing 18 off the 15th over bowled by Jadeja, but all of Mumbai’s hopes looked to have gone with the dismissal of the skipper, trapped leg before wicket by opposite number Warne.

However, needing 43 off 27 balls, Nayar and Harbhajan took their side to within six runs of victory in the final eight balls.

Nayar was then needlessly run-out after stepping out of his crease and Munaf wrapped up the tail with one ball to spare, helping the Royals climb to third in the table.