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Deccan Chargers beat Rajasthan Royals by 53 runs

Deccan Chargers won the toss against Rajasthan Royals and elected to bat and won by 53 runs and they are in the third position in the Indian Premier League.

The Deccan Chargers win a crucial game by 53 runs. Dwayne Smith is the Man of the Match for his all-round show.

Unfortunately Smith did not fire. Then the asking rate got out of hand as Yusuf yielded to the pressure. Rohit and Ojha wiped out the late middle order.

The win helps Deccan leapfrog Rajasthan in the table, they are now in third while Rajasthan slip to fourth.

Chargers failed to flourish today as Gilchrist got out early. Royals kept picking wickets regularly and that never really allowed the Chargers to get going. However, a good partnership between Vaas and Dwayne Smith helped Chargers get to a challenging total 166. Ravindra Jadeja was the stand-out bowler, providing the timely breakthroughs, particularly the wicket of Symonds.

Deccan were the dominant team in the competition's early stages gaining four consecutive wins. But they have experienced a serious slide with four defeats in their last five games. However, they emerged second-best in a thrilling encounter against Punjab in their previous match, letting it slip in the final stages after holding the cards for a good part of the game. Rajasthan were beaten by Chennai Super Kings, a blow to the three-match winning streak that ended a disappointing start to the tournament. Regaining the lost momentum remains the objective for both teams, who've experienced highly differing win-loss trajectories, as the league stage enters its last leg.

Rajasthan Royals have looked at their best when 2 or more of their batsmen fire, because their bowling has been good throughout the tournament. Shane Warne has woven his magic and again coaxed a world class performance form a bunch of unknowns. Rajasthan are well placed to make the semi-finals, and will want to seal their spot as soon as possible. Yusuf Pathan has been relatively quiet in the last few outings, and he would fancy his chances of a big hitting innings against the Hyderabad attack.

Deccan Chargers have had a lot of up and down fortunes, but are still very much in contention for a semi-final spot. Their bowling, which was always a concern, has become more so after the departure of Fidel Edwards. However, the batting has been strengthened by the arrival of Andrew Symonds, a destroyer of bowling attacks, which means that the dependence on the openers to fire has reduced drastically. With Symonds in good form, perhaps Gibbs and Gilly can go back to their freestroking ways . Rohit Sharma’s sudden growth as a spinner has also been of immense value.

Deccan Chargers

AC Gilchrist, TS Suman, RG Sharma, DR Smith, Y Venugopal Rao, A Symonds, DB Ravi Teja, PP Ojha, SM Shoaib, RP Singh, WPUJC Vaas

Rajasthan Royals

NV Ojha, GC Smith, SA Asnodkar, RA Jadeja, YK Pathan, LA Carseldine, M Morkel, AS Raut, SK Warne, SK Trivedi, MM Patel

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