Warne turns on the magic again

Shane Warne produced the old magic, and Rajasthan Royals yet again defied the odds to stun Deccan Chargers and maintain their incredible IPL record of always defending a 150-plus total.

Warne has been nowhere near his best so far in this tournament, and when he started out with two short deliveries that were dismissed to the boundary, it seemed Deccan would cruise to victory.

Rohit Sharma was playing a mature innings and with eight overs to go, Deccan only needed 59 with seven wickets in hand. But Warne isn't one to give up and he showed the Nagpur crowd glimpses of his best.

He willed his team on with a vintage display of legspin bowling. It started to fall in palce for him all when he had the left-handed Anirudh Singh inside-edging a legspinner onto the pad. The next ball was a slider, which took the outside edge and wicketkeeper Naman Ojha latched on to a sharp catch.

Warne was at his best after that, at times the not-quite-full stadium was treated to the unusual sight of a spinner bowling with a slip and silly point towards the end of a tight Twenty20. His range of legbreaks took out Dwayne Smith and two tailenders in the next two overs setting the stage for Trivedi's heroics.

It's not the first time that he has masterminded an astonishing last-over victory over the Deccan Chargers: he had gatecrashed their party in the inaugural season as well, blasting 19 runs to take Rajasthan to victory.