The Blonde Assassin strikes again

The Blonde Assassin accounted for four victims in his latest assignment.

And that, coupled with his immaculate captaincy, helped Rajjasthan Royals eke out a narrow two-run win over defending champions Deccan Chargers in a dramatic Indian Premier League match at the VCA Ground at Jamtha, Nagpur, on Monday.

The win helped preserve Rajasthan Royals' impeccable record of having not lost a game when defending a score of 150 or more - this was their 10 win in such a situation.

Leading them from the front was captain Shane Warne -- with figures of four for 21, his best in the game's shortest format.

He had Anirudh Singh (9) caught by Naman Ojha in his second over to put the pressure on the opposition going into the second strategic timeout.

And in his third over, the Rajasthan captain gave his side another ray of hope with his second wicket - Dwayne Smith (4) top-edging a flighted leg break and Siddharth Trivedi making no mistake at deep backward square leg.

Warne came back to strike twice in his final over.

The Australian legend first had Azhar Bilakhia (2) caught by Abhishek Raut at extra cover and then cleaned up Ryan Harris (1) with yet another leg break.

And his decision to hand over the ball to Trivedi in the final over -- with just six required and three opposition wickets intact -- was a masterstroke.

It wasn't surprising when he was named the man-of-the-match for his efforts.

With 43 wickets -- 10 in this edition, Warne is the second highest wicket-taker in the Indian Premier League behind Deccan Chargers' RP Singh.