Yusuf Pathan's fiery half century helped Rajasthan Royals to clinch a five-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Tuesday (April 28). Chasing a modest total of 144 runs to win, Rajasthan Royals started their innings on a cautious note. At one point of time, the Rajasthan Royals went into a defensive mood and the run-rate kept on creeping rapidly. However, the arrival of Yusuf Pathan turned things in favour of Royals. Pathan along with Graeme Smith (42 off 46 balls) won the match for the Royals in 18.3 overs.

 

Yusuf Pathan scored blistering 62 runs from just 30 deliveries with 6 sixes and 3 fours. Earlier electing to bat first, Delhi Daredevils scored 143 runs at the loss of seven wickets. Top scorer from Daredevils team was AB de Villiers (50 off 40 balls). After losing the openers, Shewag (16) and Gambhir (8), in quick succession Daredevils were unable to maintain high run-rate. Both the openers were picked by Dimitri Mascarenhas (2/28). The team would have scored much less without some lusty hitting down the order from Daniel Vettori and Mithun Manhas.

 

Apart from Mascarenhas, skipper Shane Warne and Munaf Patel claimed two wickets each. The man-of-the-match award was given to Yusuf Pathan for his match winning performance. He also grabbed a special award for hitting maximum number of sixes. Graeme Smith played a patient innings and helped Pathan to plan strategies after each over. This is the second win for Rajasthan Royals that helped the team to keep alive the hope of getting into the semis.