26 May 2008 - Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur : 15 needed of 6-balls and the young duo of Neeraj Patel and Ravindra Jadeja at the crease with Dilhara Fernando steaming in. With a single off the 1st ball, matters get tougher for the Royals. An inside edge from Jadeja then flies away to the boundary, only to be brilliantly stopped, restricting the batsmen to three. With 11off 4, Patel lofts Fernando over long on for the maximum - couldn't get better! With 5 off 3, the match springs wide open. Fernando; holds his nerve to restrict the batsmen to two of the next two deliveries.

Would you believe! Fernando slips in a wide and makes it 2 off 1. The dugouts are tensed, Warne is jumping to keep the blood flowing and Sachin can't believe that this is the third such successive situation; but surely, he's got to be third time lucky! Fernando fires a quick short ball that Patel pulls unsuccessfully straight back to the bowler. But the big man can't get down in time to save the single. The ball travels slowly to long on and Jadeja turns to scamper back for the second run. Disaster! Dwyane Smith throws wide off the stumps, Jayasuriya fails to collect the ball and the batsmen see home the Royals to a astonishing 5-wicket win off the last ball.

The crowds go berserk and the home team dugout stomps to the field to mob their heroes of the day - Neeraj Patel and Ravindra Jadeja! The young guns of Rajasthan Royals not only made a contest off a match that seemed to have slipped away but also showed great character and resilience to pull this one off.

Warne, having won the toss and put the visitors in, would have been hoping for early success. On a difficult wicket, where the ball kept slow and low, the Mumbai Indians got off to a careful start and managed 71 at the end of the eleventh over when Jayasuriya got out to Trivedi. Trivedi followed up another successful over when snatched the prized wicket of the Mumbai skipper, Tendulkar. Nayar, promoted to number three, played a good cameo but did not enjoy too much help from the other end. Warne then outsmarted Uthappa to have him stumped and Tanvir followed with two-in-two to see the back of Nayar and Pollock. Tavir missed his hattirck but had an outstanding second spell where he knocked off two more batsmen with his change of pace and awkward action.

At 120/7 in the penultimate over, it seemed that the home team would be chasing an easy target. But 'keeper Takawale turned hero for the visitors as he smashed 24 off 8, taking Watson to the cleaners in his last over that went for 25. That meant that the Royals were suddenly chasing a formidable total on a bowler friendly wicket.

Akmal opened with Asondkar and looked good until he ran himself out in silly fashion. Pathan skied one in the air and Asodkar, who had an early respite, could not make the most. At 47/3, it looked like a keen contest on hand. Kaif and Watson tried to resurrect the innings to take the score to 77. But a terrible mix up resulted in Kaif's dismissal and Watson, who surely wanted to see his team home, pulled one in the air with Tendulkar taking a brilliant catch. With two new men at the crease, Jadeja - who hasn't had an outing with the bat since sometime and Neeraj Patel - who hasn't had too many games, the ask seemed difficult for the home team.

The duo pushed around for ones and twos and aimed to keep their wickets intact. With 44 needed for the last three overs, the 'ask' seemed impossible for the Royals. It is then, when the duo decided to attack and that the Royals got a few boundaries and their first six to setup a great final over where they still needed 15.

The rest, as the say, is history. Tanvir, for his tenacious performance with the ball (4-14) bagged the man-of-the-match. But the heroes were certainly Patel and Jadeja that saw the Royals home. This win secures Rajasthan Royals the top-spot of the league standings for the tournament, irrespective of the outcomes of the remaining games. However, Rajasthan Royals will need to await the outcome of the remaining matches to see who they play on Friday in the first semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on 30th May, Friday.