Jaipur, May 11: It was a battle of minds and Shane Warne won it hands down. The Rajasthan Royals skipper-cum-coach came up with yet another "master plan" to edge out strong contenders Delhi Daredevils by three wickets in an edge-of-the-seat entertainer at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium here on Sunday.

Locked in a close battle — Rajasthan needed 7 off the last 10 balls — it was all about keeping their nerves and Warne’s young guns did that with aplomb. Placed at 150/7 in 18 overs, Mahesh Rawat and Niraj Patel did not let the pressure get the better of them, with the former hitting two consecutive fours to reach the target in 19.1 overs.

The pressure of the situation was such that even the umpires wilted. Key Royals’ player Shane Watson was involved in a close call for run out and there was enough room for doubt. Yet Peter Parker preferred to trust his judgement and not call for a replay. Understandably upset, the Daredevils surrounded him and Rudi Koertzen till the match officials referred the matter. Watson was indeed out, but it still was not enough to half the Royals’ march to victory.

For the home side, it was the sixth victory in nine matches. Warne first introduced Mascarenhas as a secret weapon and then demoted in-form batsman Watson to outwit the opponents with his tactics. Wary of dangerman Glenn McGrath, Rajasthan ensured that they had enough batting depth once the pacer was done with his initial quota of overs.

Warne’s tactics were too much for the Daredevils, who enjoyed their moments of supremacy initially. The home side were in deep trouble at 15/2 in 5 overs. Falling victim to some smart fieldwork by the visitors — Yusuf Pathan and Mohammed Kaif were run out cheaply — Rajasthan bided their time and eventually came out worthy winners.

Watson’s exploits (74, 40 balls, 5x5, 5x6) took the game away from the Daredevils’. The dashing batsman took control of the proceedings single-handedly and blasted Yo Mahesh and Pradeep Sangwan to all parts of the ground.

Earlier, it was another Warne "trumpcard" in the form of Mascarenhas that knocked the wind out of the Delhi Daredevils attack. The move had a telling effect on the Gauti-Viru combination.

Unleashed in the first over itself, Mascarenhas was the toast of the Royals’ bowling. The Englishman did full justice to Warne’s call to end with figures of 2/29 in his IPL debut. Famous for sending opponents on a leather hunt, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir were surprised by the unusual bowling combination of Mascarenhas and Watson that posed many uncomfortable questions for them.

Deprived of boundaries - a rare sight when the two are at the crease — the openers restricted themselves to singles to gather 39 in the first five overs. The wicket also did its bit as the ball kept very bowl making it difficult to play. Sehwag (17, 20 balls, 2x4) tried his bit before Watson got rid of him in the sixth over, the batsman holing out to Kaif at point.

One-down Shikhar Dhawan departed as soon as he arrived involved in a horrible mix up with Gambhir. The youngster, however, sacrificed his wicket to let the in-form batsman occupy the crease. Gambhir kept the scoreboard ticking but it was quite an ask on this wicket.