Rajasthan Royals post win over Hyderabad by 8 wkts

Right from the start, Yusuf unleashed his fireworks and hit the Chargers bowlers all over the park. At an envious strike rate of 183, he struck nine boundaries and two massive sixes in his 37-ball 68 and put up a 109-run opening stand with Smith.

Before being caught by Herschelle Gibbs off the bowling of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha in the 13th over, Yusuf, who was adjudged the man of the match, had taken his side much closer to the victory target.

Smith, on the other hand, played a patient knock of 40 from 43 balls which included four hits to the fence. His knock ended soon after Yusuf’s departure as the South African was caught by Ojha at mid on while trying a big hit off R P Singh.

Mohammad Kaif (17) and Shane Watson (5), however, saw the Rajasthan team through with four overs to spare.

Earlier, the Chargers lost momentum in the latter half of their innings and failed to capitalise on Adam Gilchrist’s useful knock.

The Chargers lost opener Herschelle Gibbs (19 off 20 balls) and Scott Styris (13 off 11) before they could make much of an impact.

But that did not distract skipper Gilchrist who scored at ease playing some electrifying strokes. He gathered 61 valuable runs off just 49 balls and laid a solid foundation for the Chargers. His entertaining innings included nine fours and a six.

The Chargers’ skipper got out in the 14th over while trying to slash a wide delivery from paceman Siddharth Trivedi but ending up edging it to wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat.

The Chargers lost their way after the Aussie great’s dismissal as Shahid Afridi (1), Rohit Sharma (5) and Sanjay Bangar (3) were sent packing by a disciplined Royals’ attack which was aided by some fine fielding.

The visitors then lost two more wickets in D Ravi Teja (6) and RP Singh (2) cheaply, but Venugopal Rao (23 off 11) stayed at the other end and his late assault helped his side touch the 140 mark. Rao hit three fours and a six in his cameo knock.

For the hosts, skipper Shane Warne was the pick of the bowlers returning two for 20, while Trivedi was impressively economical conceding only eight runs in his three overs.