14th May 2009 - Kingsmead, Durban : A humdinger of a game, a see-saw battle, a match that could have been won by either sides and blown away by both as well, eventually saw one team on top. The Rajasthan Royals once again showed that it is their team spirit and nerves of steel that rallies them against their opponents. RR pulled off a miraculous and almost impossible 2-run win over the Mumbai Indians, to boost their chances for the semi-final berth.
The Royals won an important toss and elected to bat first. It would have been rattling for the opponents after having read so much over the past few days about Warne and his injury to see Warne turn up for the toss. Just hours before, Rajasthan roped in Graeme Smith's South African deputy Johan Botha in place of the injured Shaun Tait.
Smith opened with Quiney and gave RR a steady start. Smith's departure bought in Pathan who had a few hits to the fence but then got out just before the timeout. Mid way, the Royals were 66/2 and the game was in the balance. Thereafter, Quiney and Jadeja swung the balance in RR's favour. The duo hit boundaries at will and also smartly rotated the strike in between. Without unnecessary risks, 5 overs later the score leapfrogged to 123/2, with Quiney hitting is maiden IPL fifty (51, 40b, 5x4s, 2x6s).
With five overs still to go, RR were poised for a 160-odd target. The Mumbai Indians managed to pull things back thereafter with some very disciplined bowling. The last over saw as many as three wickets go down. At the end of the innings, the Royals would have been slightly disappointed to managed only 145 when they looked good for many more. Jadeja was another key contributor to the total with 42 runs (32b 4x4s 1x6s).
The Mumbai Indians had a bizarre approach to start the innings by putting Jayasuriya and Tendulkar in the middle order. That move terribly backfired and they got themselves into a mess at 26/3 at the end of the fielding restrictions. Jayasuriya and Tendulkar worked the ball in the gaps to keep Mumbai in the hunt, but with 54/3 at the halfway stage, the tide was definitely in RR's favour.
Warne then worked his magic to see the back of Jayasuriya and Trivedi rattled Duminy's stumps in quick succession. With the asking rate having climbed to 11 an over, Mumbai managed a big over from Jadeja. If there was ever a battle when an Indian would have supported Warne over Tendulkar, it was today. Warne set up Tendulkar to sweep after bowling a leg-stump line. But he bowled the decisive ball much flatter to have Tendulkar in front of the stumps. Tendulkar had played a masterful innings (40, 30b 4x4s 1x6s) to get his team close but could not see them home.
The joy was evident on Warne's face and the Royals probably looked to celebrate. However, two big overs of 11 and 14 off Botha and Patel bought Mumbai on the brink of a hard fought win. With just 14 of 12 and still 4 wickets, Mumbai looked favourites. They got even closer when Nayar smashed a brilliant six over covers to a ball way outside the leg stump.
However, Nayar yorked himself the next ball and took off much like Carseldine did the other day not realising the ball was close to the keeper. Ojha did brilliantly well to not only field the ball but also run Nayar out. With still 4 needed of the final over, Munaf, who went for 14 of his previous over, rose to the occasion to bowl some immaculate yorkers. He first trapped Kulkarni and then Pathan didn't miss when Nanda tried to steal a single to have him short of his ground. Harbhajan managed to squeeze a single but Malinga couldn't emulate his partner. The ball went to Warne's right who dived and passed the ball to Munaf for him to complete the formalities and ensure a nailbitting victory that seemed out of reach five minutes ago.
Whether Mumbai did a Deccan or the Royals emulated Delhi by holding their nerves, the tournament saw another cracking game. Warne led the team and took 3/15 to pick up the MoM and keep the Royals hope alive for the semis.