HYDERABAD (India), April 9: Johan Botha showed rare skill with the bat to guide Rajasthan Royals to an emphatic eight-wicket victory over a listless Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.

The South African spinner hit eight fours and a six in his unbeaten 67 off 47 balls as Rajasthan overhauled Deccan’s 137-8 with seven balls to spare at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.Botha, a surprise promotion to number three in the batting order, shared 52 runs with veteran India batsman Rahul Dravid (28) and another 58 with New Zealand’s Ross Taylor (21 not out).

Earlier, Deccan were off to a confident start after being put in to bat by Rajasthan skipper Shane Warne but lost their way against Siddharth Trivedi and Amit Singh, each picking three wickets.

Australian spin legend Warne, who led Royals to a surprise title triumph in the inaugural IPL edition in 2008, chipped in with two wickets, including that of dangerman JP Duminy (14).

Kumar Sangakkara’s new stint as Deccan skipper got off to a poor start as he edged Trivedi behind the wicket for a duck.

Australian Daniel Christian, one of the most expensive buys in the auction this year with a price tag of $900,000, hit two sixes in his 19-ball 26 before falling to Trivedi.

On Friday, defending champions Chennai Super Kings pulled off a thrilling two-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening match of the IPL.

Super Kings fought back after South African Jacques Kallis hit a 42-ball 54 that included seven fours to put Knight Riders in control as the visitors chased 154 for victory in the day-night match at the Chidambaram Stadium.

Kallis, who took two wickets for 34 runs to help restrict the defending champions to 153 for four, was caught at short fine leg off Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin with the team still needing 42 off 28 balls with seven wickets left.

But the Knight Riders middle-order buckled as Eion Morgan was stumped by Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Indian all-rounder Suresh Raina and lost Gautam Gambhir, who was run out, in the same over.

Knight Riders finished with 151 for seven after 20 overs.

Aggressive Manoj Tiwary (27) narrowed down the chase, lashing two successive sixes off Suraj Randiv but fell to the Sri Lanka spinner with the side needing nine off the last over.

New Zealand seamer Tim Southee bowled the final over to give Super Kings a winning start to the season.

Earlier, local favourite Anirudha Srikkanth hit a 55-ball 64 with six fours and two sixes to provide Super Kings with a strong start. The hosts opted to bat first following a glittering opening ceremony that featured several Bollywood cinema stars including Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan.

Srikkanth put on 75 with Indias Suresh Raina (33) for the second wicket after Indian team-mate Murali Vijay was dismissed for four in the first over by left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla.

Raina, who helped India triumph in the World Cup, fell to India spinner Yusuf Pathan. Kallis returned to bowl a remarkable second spell in which he dismissed Super Kings skipper Dhoni and Srikkanth. Summarised scores: Rajasthan Royals bt Deccan Chargers by eight wickets. DECCAN CHARGERS 137-8 in 20 overs (D. Ravi Teja 28, D. Christian 26; S. Trivedi 3-15, A. Singh 3-35); RAJASTHAN ROYALS 141-2 in 18.5 overs (J. Botha 67 not out, R. Dravid 28).

Chennai Super Kings bt Kolkata Knight Riders by two runs. CHENNAI SUPER KINGS 153-4 in 20 overs (Anirudha Srikkanth 64; Jacques Kallis 2-34); KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 151-7 in 20 overs (Kallis 54). —Agencies