The 66th match of the ongoing fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was played between the Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
The match was won by the Royals in a befitting manner as they took the game away from the hosts by 10-wickets with 41 deliveries remaining, as they chased a meager total of 133 runs.
The match was important for the Royals as it was Australian legend, Shane Warne, last match as a player and skipper of the Rajasthan Royals. Fans will remember this victory as the best possible farewell present to Warne, who had been with the team since he led them to their first title victory in the inaugural edition of the Indian league, four years ago.
Although, this time the RR were not lucky enough to have a swing at the title, nonetheless, winning a game against the phenomenal Mumbai Indians led by the little master, Sachin Tendulkar, was a well earned victory.
However, it was fellow Aussie and opener for the Royals, Shane Watson, who stole Warne’s thunder by playing a gem of an innings taking the game away from Mumbai as his side successfully, chased a tally of 133 runs posted by Tendulkar’s XI. Watson made 89 runs in his innings off 47 deliveries, which included nine boundaries and six sixes.
The heavy bashing by Watson showed that he wanted to give Warne an explosive farewell and while there were no fireworks arranged by the IPL management for Warne’s sending off, Watson took it upon himself to mesmerize the Mumbai crowd with fireworks from his bat.
He manhandled the formidable bowling arsenal of the Mumbai Indians and reduced them to rubble as none of the bowlers had a clue how to bowl against the batsman, who seemed to have snapped.
Watson’s partner on the other end, Rahul Dravid also remained not-out after scoring 43 runs off 32 deliveries, which included six boundaries. In the end the Royals reached the tally, however, it was the end of the road for Warne’s men and now Mumbai will go on to fight it out with Kolkata Knight Riders in their next fixture.
Earlier, after winning the toss, the Mumbai Indians chose to bat first in a bid to post a huge target against the Royals, who had failed in their last two matches before this fixture. However, Watson made early inroads by dismissing opener Tirumalasetti Suman for five runs.
On the last delivery of the fourth over, Watson struck again and removed one down batsman, Ambati Rayudu, after he found an edge, high enough for Ross Taylor to catch by running to his left. Rayudu had scored just two runs after struggling to middle eight deliveries.
It was then Sachin and Rohit Sharma, who brought some stability in the middle, and made life for the Rajasthan bowlers a bit difficult. However, all good things must come to an end and so did this partnership when in the 12th over the batting maestro Tendulkar edged a delivery straight into the hands of Watson at third man off a ball bowled by Amit Singh. The Mumbai opener scored 31 runs off 35 deliveries.
Nonetheless, it was Sharma, who played a phenomenal innings for his side. The batsman scored 58 runs off 47 deliveries in an innings that included five boundaries and one six. He was removed by a superb Shane Warne delivery, which turned away from the batsmen, giving the Rajasthan wicketkeeper an easy opportunity to dislodge the bails.
Watson was named man of the match for his splendid all-round performance.
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