Shane Watson smashed an unbeaten century and then bagged two wickets as Rajasthan Royals outplayed defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders by nine runs to seal a play-offs berth in the IPL tournament in Mumbai on Saturday.
Lifting themselves from the sixth spot, the inaugural champions leap-frogged to the second place, while KKR, with 7 wins and 6 losses, only have a mathematical possibility of making the final-four.
Man-of the-match Watson it was, who made things possible for RR as he muscled his way to a brilliant 104 not out in 59 balls, consisting of 5 sixes and 9 fours, to help the side amass 199 for six at the Brabourne Stadium.
Then the Royals bowlers, in particular the gangling Chris Morris (4 for 23), Watson (2 for 38) and Dhawal Kulkarni (2 for 36), snuffed the Knight Riders challenge and halted the Gautam Gambhir-led side at 190 for 9.
KKR suffered their second consecutive loss in three days to end with 15 points and their chances of moving ahead depends on other teams.
Unless the results of the last two matches of the league phase on Sunday pan in their favour, they will be out of the tournament.
The day though belonged to Watson, who smashed five sixes and struck nine fours in his 59 ball blitz – the fourth hundred of this season - besides putting on a rollicking opening stand of 80 with Ajinkya Rahane (37).
Watson went on undeterred at the other end though he lost his partners regularly to remain unconquered after joining A B de Villiers, Chris Gayle (both Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Brendon McCullum (Chennai Super Kings) in the century-makers' list of season 8.
Andre Russell was Knight Riders' most impressive bowler on view as he put the brakes first and then picked up 3 for 32. The most expensive was Azhar Mehmood (0-41 in 3 overs), a surprise inclusion for this do-or-die game after not figuring in a single game earlier.
The Steve Smith-side got off to a real flyer after opting to bat first by racing to their fifty in just five overs with openers Rahane and Watson in punishing mood.
Watson set the tone in the opening over by cover driving and flicking Mehmood for a couple of fours.
Rahane picked up the cue at the other end by slashing Morne Morkel over point for a stunning six after glancing him fine for a boundary but his run-out and some excellent bowling by Russell slowed down the run-rate a bit.
Chasing 200 for a victory and a place in the last four, the title-holders got off to a horror start by losing their most prolific run getters - captain Gautam Gambhir (1) and Robin Uthappa (14) within the first three overs.
Gambhir mistimed a pull off a ball dug in my Morris and was caught at short mid-wicket off the sixth ball of the innings. Then Uthappa drove a catch off Dhawal Kulkarni to mid-off and leave the Knight Riders at 21 for two.
Yusuf Pathan (44) steadied the innings with a 56-run partnership with Manish Pandey (21) before Kulkarni broke the stand.
Yusuf was looking good at the other end and the key in the Knight Riders chase with his ability to clear the rope.
With Russell (37) joining Yusuf, another all rounder with penchant for big hits, the 100 was raised in the 11th over.
The fourth wicket duo put on 55 runs in 31 balls with Russell striking two huge sixes off Watson and debutant Brainder Sran - the second one going over the roof and outside the stadium - Knight Riders were well on way to overhauling the score.
But a brilliant third over - and the 14th of the innings – from South African Morris - who had taken 3 for 19 in their earlier game – resulted in KKR losing Russell and Suryakumar Yadav (0) in three balls.
Russell skied the bowler to Kulkarni at long off and then Suryakumar was caught behind with a superb ball to leave the Knight Riders at 133 for 5 with Yusuf as the main hope.
But the Baroda man too departed two overs later, caught at long off to a tame catch off Watson and Royals had as good as sewed up the game with KKR tottering at 146 for 6.
Though there was some late-order hitting by Umesh Yadav (24 not out), who struck a six and three fours off James Faulkner in the 19th over, the task of scoring 16 in the last over of Morris was too big an ask.
