Daredevils demolised by Royals

MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals are worth $67 million — the cheapest franchisee in the Indian Premier League. They don’t have a coach. Their captain, an international cricket retiree, doubles up as both skipper and coach.

Graeme Smith, Sohail Tanvir and Shane Watson are the other big names in the team. The rest are little-known players.

It’s weird then that success has come in such measure to a team that was considered a ‘no-hoper’ before the start of the tournament a month ago. But then, in life as in cricket, winners aren’t always the strongest but the smartest.

On Friday, Rajasthan Royals beat Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs to reach the final. Batting first after losing the toss, Royals posted a gargantuan score of 192 for 9. A fight was expected given that Delhi have Gautam Gambhir and captain Virender Sehwag opening the innings. But the Devils hardly dared and went out of the tournament with a whimper, getting all out for 87 off 16.1 overs. Shane Watson’s outstanding all-rounder performance had Delhi on the mat. The burly Aussie scored a powerful 52 and then topped it up by picking 3 wickets, giving away only 10 runs from his four overs.

While chasing, only three players from the Delhi team managed to get into double figures - Gambhir (11), Dinesh Karthik (10) and Tilakratne Dilshan (33). The Sri Lankan put up a bit of a fight in the middle overs. But it was just too little, too late.
For Royals, Munaf Patel was the other outstanding bowler, picking up 3 wickets while giving away only 17 runs. Captain Shane Warne was, as usual, inspirational both in his bowling and captaincy. He also had two wickets to show, though he got out first ball while batting.

Earlier, the Royals’ batting charge was led by two of their electric performers in the tournament, Watson and Yusuf Pathan. There has been very little on offer for the bowlers from the flat wickets during the IPL.

Delhi captain Sehwag, wanting to provide whatever little advantage he could to his bowlers, decided to bowl first after winning the toss. The Wankhede wicket has assisted the bowlers early on before easing out for the second half. But Viru’s plan didn’t work as the Royals seemed on a mission.

The effective opening pair of Graeme Smith and Swapnil Asnodkar put on 65 runs in 40 balls for the first wicket. Smith, who missed out the Royals’ last two games with a hamstring injury, was in visible pain and had to call for a runner as early as the second
over of the innings. He followed that up with some lusty blows to the fence.

But it was the diminutive Asnodkar who stole the show early on. The Goan’s uninhibited batting has been one of the highlights of the tournament. His 39 off 21 balls provided the Royals the momentum early on. He hit the great Glenn McGrath to the boundary for his first four of the innings, and then was particularly severe on Sri Lankan bowler Farveez Maharoof and Tamil Nadu speedster Yo Mahesh.

But three quick wickets checked the run-flow for the Royals before big-hitting Watson was joined by Pathan, two of the most effective and valuable players of the tournament. Both the sturdy all-rounders seem to be made for this form of cricket and took the Daredevils bowling to the cleaners.

Watson scored yet another half-century, his 52 coming off 29 balls which included three huge hits to the fence. Pathan deserved a fifty though he fell five runs short.