Warne: Captain fantastic

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Skipper Shane Warne was indebted to the performance of Yusuf Pathan as the Rajasthan Royals defeated the Chennai Super Kings by three-wickets in a thrilling Indian Premier League final.

Pathan took 3-22 to reduce Chennai to 163-5, and then smashed 56 - including four sixes and three fours - in a match-winning 39-ball innings.

In a dramatic finale, the Royals required eight runs off the final over for victory as Shane Warne (9 not out) and Sohail Tanvir (9no) kept their cool to reach the target, with the latter grabbing the one run needed for victory off the final ball of the match.

Rajasthan made a shaky start as they chased down Chennai's target, losing Niraj Patel in the fourth over for just two runs off 11 balls, however fellow opener Swapnil Asnodkar (28) looked in better touch.

He seemed to have the measure of Makhaya Ntini, hitting the South African for consecutive fours, but could not cope with the pace of Albie Morkel and slashed at a wide ball to Suresh Raina at point.

Suicidal

The Royals suffered a double blow in the same over when Pakistani wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal (6) went for a suicidal single after nudging to mid-on and was run out by Ntini's direct hit.

After being dropped by Raina on 13, Pathan went on to smash Muttiah Muralitharan for back-to-back sixes as Australian Shane Watson added an invaluable 28 off 19 balls before he succumbed to Muralitharan.

Needing 52 off the last five overs, Pathan launched Lakshmipathy Balaji for 12 off one over and then dished out the same treatment to Muralitharan, hoisting the spinner over midwicket to bring up his half century.

But Mohammad Kaif then lobbed Muralitharan into the hands of Mahendra Singh Dhoni at cover and Ravindra Jadeja followed the next ball when he lamely pulled Morkel straight to Kapugedera at mid-on.

Rajasthan's hopes were knocked when Pathan was run out by Raina's superb direct hit but Warne and Tanvir steered the Royals to victory.

Nervy

Earlier, Chennai openers Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan and Parthiv Patel put on 39 before the former was dismissed in the sixth over after a well judged catch by Jadeja sprinting in from the boundary.

Patel looked a touch nervy from the off and survived two decent lbw appeals, but he hit five fours in a 38-run innings off 33 balls before being caught behind by Akmal off Pathan.

Morkel attempted to accelerate the run rate and smashed two sixes before he became Pathan's third victim, top-edging behind high behind him.

Akmal back-pedalled to take the catch, despite colliding heavily with Kaif who was running in from short fine leg.

Aiming for a flurry of runs in the final few overs, Raina tried one shot too many and was caught on the long-off boundary by Jadeja off the bowling of Watson, and Chamara Kapugedera did not last long, adding just eight runs before lofting to Asnodkar at long on off Tanvir.

Dhoni smashed 29 off 17 balls, including a huge six in the last over, and Subramaniam Badrinath made six off the final two balls of the innings to reach 163-5 but it proved insufficient.