The Rajasthan Royals confirmed their passage to the Pepsi IPL 2015 Playoffs after they defeated defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders by nine runs in a high-scoring contest at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. After setting the visitors a formidable target of 200, RR held their nerves, kept pegging away at KKR wickets and restricted them to 190-9. Earlier in the evening, after opting to bat first on a belter of a pitch, the Rajasthan Royals rode on Shane Watson’s second IPL century to post a mountain of runs on the board. The opening pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Watson helped their team to an aggressive start, adding 66 runs in the first six overs. On a surface where the ball came on to the bat nicely, both batsmen made use of the pace of the ball to pick up boundaries. Even Shakib-al-Hasan, who was introduced into the attack in the sixth over, wasn’t spared as he was milked for 14 runs in his first over. While Watson was all muscle on the day, Rahane’s innings was all about timing and finding the gap. The latter scored 37 from 22 balls – studded with three boundaries and two sixes – before he was involved in a misunderstanding in running between the wickets and was run out. The opening pair was separated at the end of the seventh over, at which point RR had raced to 80. Steve Smith struck two boundaries and added 30 runs in association with Watson before he whipped a waist-high full toss from Andre Russell to the man at short fineleg. RR continued to lose wickets at one end – Sanju Samson and James Faulkner were dismissed for single-digit scores, and Karun Nair perished after a quick-fire 16. But Watson motored along at the other end, scoring his half-century off 31 balls, needing only 26 balls to get to the three-figure mark. He brought up his century in style – off the first ball of the final over of the innings – when he slashed a wide delivery from Umesh and sent it on its way to the boundary. The Australian, who had relinquished captaincy a few days ago, scored the majority of his runs in front of the wicket, and was harsh on almost all the bowlers. Against Azhar Mahmood, Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav combined, he scored 60 runs from 33 balls, while he took 28 runs from 14 balls off Shakib-al-Hasan. Watson remained unbeaten at the end of the twenty overs, with 104 from 59 balls and his innings was decorated with nine fours and five sixes. RR were 115 for 2 at the end of twelve overs, and applying the principle of doubling the score after twelve overs, should have reached a total in the region of 220-230. However, they were pulled back in the middle stages of the innings and could only finish with 199-6. For KKR, Andre Russell was the most successful bowler, returning figures of 3-32, and Umesh Yadav (1-36) was the only other wicket-taker. For KKR to chase the runs down, they needed one of their two openers – Robin Uthappa or Gautam Gambhir – to drop anchor and allow the other stroke-makers to flourish at the other end. Losing both opening batsmen in the first three overs set them back upfront, and that meant the rest of the batting lineup was under tremendous pressure. Yusuf Pathan held the innings together for a brief period of time, stitching together partnerships of 56 with Manish Pandey and 55 with Russell. But once Yusuf Pathan was dismissed – for a well-compiled 44 (35 balls) – in the sixteenth over, the contest had been killed. Umesh Yadav brought life briefly – right at the fag end of the innings, scoring 24 from 11 balls, but the task in front of him was just too huge. KKR finished their twenty overs at 190-9, ten runs short of what was needed. For RR, Dhawal Kulkarni did the damage at the top of the innings, dismissing Uthappa and Manish Pandey, while Chris Morris cleaned up the middle and lower order, picking up four wickets – including that of KKR skipper Gambhir. Morris held his nerve while bowling the final over too; with 16 runs to defend – and Shakib-al-Hasan and an on-fire Umesh Yadav to bowl to, the South African held his nerve, conceding only six runs to deny the defending champions. Watson picked up two wickets – including that of a well-set Yusuf Pathan - to cap off an outstanding day for him. Brief Scores Rajasthan Royals 199-6 in 20.0 Overs (Shane Watson 104*, Andre Russell 3-32) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 190-9 in 20.0 Overs (Yusuf Pathan 44, Chris Morris 4-23) Man of the Match: Shane Watson, for his unbeaten 104 and 2-38.