Raut emerges new match-winner for Warne

Port Elizabeth, May 02: The astute man that he is, Shane Warne has an uncanny knack of unearthing hidden talents and keeping faith in them. He does not even hesitate to unleash them in crunch situations in order to get the best out of them. He did it with Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Swapnil Asnodkar, Dinesh Shankule, Neeraj Patel in the first season of IPL that ultimately helped his team win the crown despite not having the big names in their ranks.

The same thing was on display this year too as the spin legend has kept his confidence in the lesser known commodities like Abhishek Raut and Kamran Khan. And they have not disappointed their captain.

If Kamran Khan hogged the limelight by snatching a sensational match for them against KKR in super over, the match against Deccan Chargers on Saturday doled out a new hero in Abhishek Raut, who played an excellent knock of unbeaten 36 off just 23 balls under tremendous pressure to steer his team to victory against mighty Deccan Chargers by 3 wickets with two balls to spare.

As they say, in cricket, or in any other game, you need more players with character rather than talents. Talents may ‘deceive’ you in tricky situations, but the players with character will raise their bar in difficult times and win you more matches under pressure.

First, Raut, along with Captain Shane Warne, forged an important partnership of 36 runs to keep the hopes of winning the match alive for Rajasthan Royals. They took Venugopal Rao, who claimed two wickets, to the cleaners, hitting him for 17 runs in an over. From 60 for 5 after 10 overs they took the team’s total to 93.

The platform was ready for Yusuf Pathan to go for the final assault. Pathan started in a typical fashion hitting two huge sixes. He helped his team narrow the gap between balls and required runs with a blistering 14-ball 24.

But the staunchest of Rajasthan’s supporters would not have expected this victory considering the way they started their proceedings. Chasing a moderate 142, Rajasthan Royals got off to a horrendous start, losing three early wickets inside second over of the innings. It’s the worst start by any team in IPL season two losing three wickets for just 3 runs.

They lost the first two wickets in the 2nd and 3rd ball of the very first over in the form of South African captain Graeme Smith and Swapnil Asnodkar. Then in the next over (2nd over) they lost wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who was playing his debut IPL match. All the three batsmen failed to open their account.

While Smith and Ojha got out caught in the off-side, Asnodkar was run out by an acrobatic effort by Gibbs.

Just when everything seemed to be lost for the defending champion inside second over of the innings when they were tottering at 3/3, Queensland’s T20 specialist Lee Carseldine, along with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, launched a severe counter-attack on Deccan bowlers, who were making havoc sending the shivers down the spines of Royals batting, and helped his team cross fifty from 3 for 3.

Ravindra Jadeja, who was lending good support to the Australian, suddenly tried to play to the gallery, but his adventurous shot failed to clear the boundary and he was caught at long-off by Dwayne Smith off Venugopal Rao. Rao gave another blow in the same over removing the dangerous Lee Carseldine whose destructive 39 finally came to an end. His brave knock consisted of 6 hits to the fence. After 10 overs, Royals were 60 for 5.


Earlier an excellent bowling performance by Ravindra Jadeja and Shane Harwood helped Rajasthan Royals restrict Deccan Chargers to 141/5 in allotted overs.

Though all the Royals bowlers bowled well, it’s Jadeja and Harwood who were the pick of the bowler maintaining a disciplined line and length and keeping a tight lease around the in-form Deccan batsmen after their captain and dangerous Gilchrist was sent to the pavilion by Jadeja leaving them struggling at 58/3 during strategy break.

Though Rohit Sharma and T Suman (41*) stitched a 59-run partnership to pull Deccan out of trouble and help them to cross hundred-run mark, once Rohit Sharma (38 off 32 balls) got out, trying to hit two consecutive sixes to Siddharth Trivedi after hitting him over mid-wicket for one off the previous ball, Deccan innings never got going.

Suman also tried his best with a attacking knock of 41 off 30 balls with 2 fours and one six, it was not enough to help Deccan cross 150 mark. But the total can’t be underestimated considering the superb performance by the bowlers.

Just when everything was set for another devastating knock from Gilchrist, he perished trying to whack Ravindra Jadeja over mid-wicket. Gilchrist made 40 off 35 balls with the help of 5 fours and 2 sixes. When the two teams headed for the strategic break after 10 overs, Deccan Chargers were 58 for 3. With Gilchrist back into the dug-out, entire responsibility was rested on Rohit Sharma, who played a good knock, to help Deccan post a decent score.

Yusuf Pathan again drew the first blood for his team as he removed in-form Herschelle Gibbs for 8 off 10 balls. Yusuf found Gibbs plumb in front of the wicket while trying to play a sweep shot off a straighter delivery.

Azhar Bilakhia, who got a promotion today to no 3 position for his good show in IPL-II, did not last long either as he perished trying to play a pull shot only to be caught at long-on off Shane Harwood, who got his first wicket in his very first ball of the IPL.

Teams:

Deccan Chargers: AC Gilchrist, HH Gibbs, AA Bilakhia, RG Sharma, Y Venugopal Rao, TS Suman, DR Smith, SM Shoaib, PP Ojha, RP Singh, FH Edwards

Rajasthan Royals: GC Smith, SA Asnodkar, RA Jadeja, YK Pathan, LA Carseldine, NV Ojha, AS Raut, SK Warne, SM Harwood, SK Trivedi, MM Patel


Biswajit Jha/Zeecric Bureau

Port Elizabeth, May 02: The astute man that he is, Shane Warne has an uncanny knack of unearthing hidden talents and keeping faith in them. He does not even hesitate to unleash them in crunch situations in order to get the best out of them. He did it with Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Swapnil Asnodkar, Dinesh Shankule, Neeraj Patel in the first season of IPL that ultimately helped his team win the crown despite not having the big names in their ranks.

The same thing was on display this year too as the spin legend has kept his confidence in the lesser known commodities like Abhishek Raut and Kamran Khan. And they have not disappointed their captain.

If Kamran Khan hogged the limelight by snatching a sensational match for them against KKR in super over, the match against Deccan Chargers on Saturday doled out a new hero in Abhishek Raut, who played an excellent knock of unbeaten 36 off just 23 balls under tremendous pressure to steer his team to victory against mighty Deccan Chargers by 3 wickets with two balls to spare.

As they say, in cricket, or in any other game, you need more players with character rather than talents. Talents may ‘deceive’ you in tricky situations, but the players with character will raise their bar in difficult times and win you more matches under pressure.

First, Raut, along with Captain Shane Warne, forged an important partnership of 36 runs to keep the hopes of winning the match alive for Rajasthan Royals. They took Venugopal Rao, who claimed two wickets, to the cleaners, hitting him for 17 runs in an over. From 60 for 5 after 10 overs they took the team’s total to 93.

The platform was ready for Yusuf Pathan to go for the final assault. Pathan started in a typical fashion hitting two huge sixes. He helped his team narrow the gap between balls and required runs with a blistering 14-ball 24.

But the staunchest of Rajasthan’s supporters would not have expected this victory considering the way they started their proceedings. Chasing a moderate 142, Rajasthan Royals got off to a horrendous start, losing three early wickets inside second over of the innings. It’s the worst start by any team in IPL season two losing three wickets for just 3 runs.

They lost the first two wickets in the 2nd and 3rd ball of the very first over in the form of South African captain Graeme Smith and Swapnil Asnodkar. Then in the next over (2nd over) they lost wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha, who was playing his debut IPL match. All the three batsmen failed to open their account.

While Smith and Ojha got out caught in the off-side, Asnodkar was run out by an acrobatic effort by Gibbs.

Just when everything seemed to be lost for the defending champion inside second over of the innings when they were tottering at 3/3, Queensland’s T20 specialist Lee Carseldine, along with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, launched a severe counter-attack on Deccan bowlers, who were making havoc sending the shivers down the spines of Royals batting, and helped his team cross fifty from 3 for 3.

Ravindra Jadeja, who was lending good support to the Australian, suddenly tried to play to the gallery, but his adventurous shot failed to clear the boundary and he was caught at long-off by Dwayne Smith off Venugopal Rao. Rao gave another blow in the same over removing the dangerous Lee Carseldine whose destructive 39 finally came to an end. His brave knock consisted of 6 hits to the fence. After 10 overs, Royals were 60 for 5.

Earlier an excellent bowling performance by Ravindra Jadeja and Shane Harwood helped Rajasthan Royals restrict Deccan Chargers to 141/5 in allotted overs.

Though all the Royals bowlers bowled well, it’s Jadeja and Harwood who were the pick of the bowler maintaining a disciplined line and length and keeping a tight lease around the in-form Deccan batsmen after their captain and dangerous Gilchrist was sent to the pavilion by Jadeja leaving them struggling at 58/3 during strategy break.

Though Rohit Sharma and T Suman (41*) stitched a 59-run partnership to pull Deccan out of trouble and help them to cross hundred-run mark, once Rohit Sharma (38 off 32 balls) got out, trying to hit two consecutive sixes to Siddharth Trivedi after hitting him over mid-wicket for one off the previous ball, Deccan innings never got going.

Suman also tried his best with a attacking knock of 41 off 30 balls with 2 fours and one six, it was not enough to help Deccan cross 150 mark. But the total can’t be underestimated considering the superb performance by the bowlers.

Just when everything was set for another devastating knock from Gilchrist, he perished trying to whack Ravindra Jadeja over mid-wicket. Gilchrist made 40 off 35 balls with the help of 5 fours and 2 sixes. When the two teams headed for the strategic break after 10 overs, Deccan Chargers were 58 for 3. With Gilchrist back into the dug-out, entire responsibility was rested on Rohit Sharma, who played a good knock, to help Deccan post a decent score.

Yusuf Pathan again drew the first blood for his team as he removed in-form Herschelle Gibbs for 8 off 10 balls. Yusuf found Gibbs plumb in front of the wicket while trying to play a sweep shot off a straighter delivery.

Azhar Bilakhia, who got a promotion today to no 3 position for his good show in IPL-II, did not last long either as he perished trying to play a pull shot only to be caught at long-on off Shane Harwood, who got his first wicket in his very first ball of the IPL.

Teams:

Deccan Chargers: AC Gilchrist, HH Gibbs, AA Bilakhia, RG Sharma, Y Venugopal Rao, TS Suman, DR Smith, SM Shoaib, PP Ojha, RP Singh, FH Edwards

Rajasthan Royals: GC Smith, SA Asnodkar, RA Jadeja, YK Pathan, LA Carseldine, NV Ojha, AS Raut, SK Warne, SM Harwood, SK Trivedi, MM Patel