13 Apr 2011

Taylor scores winning runs for Royals

5:42 am on 13 April 2011

Shane Warne's Rajasthan Royals thrashed the Delhi Daredevils by six wickets to pocket their second successive victory in cricket's Indian Premier League, with Black Cap Ross Taylor scoring the winning runs.

Chasing a stiff 152, Rajasthan rode on fine knocks by Rahul Dravid and Johan Botha to overhaul the target with nine balls to spare at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

The usually sedate Dravid struck a quickfire 38 off 31 balls and South African Botha continued his fine form with the bat, scoring an unbeaten 39 with four fours.

New Zealand batsman Taylor (18 not out) capped off a fine victory for Rajasthan with a four and a six in the penultimate over to delight a sizeable home crowd.

Delhi slumped to their second defeat in as many matches after having lost to Mumbai Indians in their opening match.

Australian spin legend Warne impressed the most among the bowlers, finishing with 2-17 but Tait proved expensive with his two wickets coming at the cost of 40 runs off four overs.