Aussie Shanes reign in Royals IPL win
06:24 AEST Tue Apr 22 2008

Shane Watson and Shane Warne have produced sovereign performances to catapult the Rajasthan Royals to a six-wicket victory in the Indian Premier League.

The blond Australian pair reigned supreme at Sawai Mansingh Stadium as the Jaipur-based team chased down Kings XI Punjab's total of 8-166 with 11 balls to spare.

Captain-coach Warne (3-19 off four overs) pulled out all of his old tricks to put the brakes on Brett Lee's side before Watson (76no off 49 balls) edged his skipper out for man of the match honours.

Not even a faulty bat could slow down Watson's assault on the bowlers, the allrounder clobbering a six despite his bat snapping in half during the impact of striking the medium-pace of compatriot James Hopes.

Watson cleared the boundary five times in all with one savage blow landing on top of the low stands at the ground before he scored the winning runs by crunching the impulsive Shantha Sreesanth for four.

However the reason that Watson and the Royals faced such an achievable target was almost entirely down to Warne.

The Twenty20 format is supposed to be a graveyard for bowlers but Warne showed that class counted in any form of the game with a masterful little spell.

With the Kings XI Punjab having cruised to 1-54 off six overs, Warne thrust himself into the attack and struck with just his third ball by removing Kumar Sangakkara (20 off eight balls).

The damaging Sri Lankan slapped a sharp return catch into the spin wizard's big hands.

Warne continued to turn the heat up on the opposition in his very next over, having Hopes (16) trapped in front as the visitors slipped to 4-73.

And they should have been in even deeper trouble but Darren Lehmann dropped an absolute sitter off Yuvraj Singh (57 off 34 balls) in Warne's third over.

Yuvraj was on 15 when he skied a Warne delivery but the ball somehow slipped through Lehmann's fingers.

Warne pulled himself out of the attack before returning in the 17th over to remove Yuvraj, who by that time had produced a half century.

The displays of Warne and Watson continued the strong influence that Australian players are exerting in the inaugural competition.

The Royals improved their record to 1-1 after losing their opening match to the Glenn McGrath's Delhi Daredevils while the Kings XI Punjab have dropped their first two matches.