JAIPUR, May 12: Shane Watson came up with a superb half-century to make sure that Rajasthan Royals chase down the modest target of 157 successfully and register a thrilling three-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League match here on Sunday (also partly reported in Monday’s edition).

Watson, who also took 2-21, scored an all-important 74 off 40-balls with the help of five boundaries and five sixes, though got life from two dropped catches but he made sure that his luck got his team the required results with five balls to spare. In fact, Graeme Smith (24) also survived dropped chances to put on a crucial 71-run partnership for the third wicket with Watson.

Rajasthan Royals, who were already leading the points table, took one more step towards booking a berth in the semi-finals of this tournament when their bowlers, earlier, came up with a devastating spell to keep the Daredevils batsmen under control almost throughout the innings, after the host skipper Shane Warne put the opponents in to bat.

And although, some late smashing by Farveez Maharoof changed the complexion of the game and helped Delhi post a competitive total of 156-7 in their allotted 20 overs which made the game go down to the wires in the end.

Rajasthan Royals’ chase was jolted by two early run outs in the form of Yusuf Pathan and Mohammad Kaif.

But Smith and Watson consolidate the innings, by adopting a cautious approach as they slowly moved towards the target bringing up just 33 runs in seven overs.

But once the duo got settled, they started to fire all guns with Watson leading the attack. And in no time, the Australian helped his team recover the lost ground.

Smith, though soon lost his wicket when Yo Mahesh ran across from long-on to take a stunning catch just inches from the turf off the bowling of Amit Mishra. But that did not stop Watson at the other end.

Delhi, on the other hand, kept their hopes alive by taking wickets at regular intervals. Ultimately, they made it a close affair, when Rajasthan Royals needed just seven runs off the nine balls.

And at this point in time, Rajasthan Royals got the big scare when Watson was rightly given a run out by the third umpire in the penultimate over, although, not before another controversy marred it.

Square leg umpire — Steve Davis did not refer the decision to the third umpire but Delhi captain Sehwag insisted with the field umpires to bring in the services of the third umpire for it and the TV replays clearly showed that he was short of his ground.

But, the two new batsmen — Mahesh Rawat (5) and Niraj Patel (4) did not lose their nerve and won the match for their team.

Summarised scores:

DELHI DAREDEVILS 156-7 in 20 overs (Farveez Maharoof 39, Gautam Gambhir 31, A.B. de Villiers 20; Shane Watson 2-21, Siddharth Trivedi 2-28, Dimitri Mascarenhas 2-29); RAJASTHAN ROYALS 159-7 in 19.1 overs (Shane Watson 74, Graeme Smith 24; Amit Mishra 2-27).

—Agencies