Delhi trampled by 105 runs; Royal final guaranteed

Mumbai, May 30: Rajasthan Royals carried on from where they had left in the league stage as they thrashed Delhi Daredevils by a huge margin of 105 runs. Munaf Patel and Shane Watson shared three wickets apiece for the Royals and played a major role in demolishing the Daredevils. They, thus, take their team into the finals of the IPL to play against either Kings XI Punjab or Chennai Super Kings.

Shane Watson was adjudged the man of the match for his brilliant all-round performance whereas Yusuf Pathan was awarded with a cheque for the DLF maximum sixes. He clobbered four of them.

Watson top scored for the Rajasthan Royals with a 29 ball 52 while Yusuf Pathan clobbered the Daredevils for four monstrous hits over the fence and three to it to score 45 runs off just 21 balls. The two hard hitting batsmen capitalised on the rock solid platform laid down by Asnodkar and Smith. Both the openers scored 39 and 25 off 21 balls each. Maharoof was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi as he claimed 3 wickets to rattle the Royal’s top order.

Mohammad Asif looked like an inexperienced player when he was run out due to his non-presence of mind. He did not follow the ball and was casually returning to the crease when a crashing throw came into the hands of Rawat who clipped off theh bails before Asif could put the willow in the crease. This was the end of the Daredevil carnival in the inaugural Indian Premier League.

Yo Mahesh fell prey to a Munaf Patel bouncer which was safely taken by the Royal wicketkeeper Mahesh Rawat. The decision came pretty late from umpire Rudi Koertzen as he was confused whether the ball had hit Yomi on the glove or not. The replays, however, showed that the ball had hit the shoulder of the batsman.

Munaf Patel returned to his second spell only to castle Amit Mishra for a score of 2 runs of 5 balls. A lazy drive off the pads did not click and Mishra’s furniture was displaced by the Indian pacer to reduce the Daredevils down to eight wickets.

Shane Warne joined the party as he claimed two quick wickets to celebrate the Delhi Daredevil downfall. He claimed Farveez Maharoof and Tilakaratne Dilshan in the same over to wipe any hopes of a win for the Daredevils. Warne smiled while Delhi mourned the loss of their Sri Lankan duo.

Kaif showed why he is considered one of the best fielders in international cricket when he took a beauty to strangle Delhi Daredevils by claiming Dinesh Karthik off Siddhartha Trivedi. Although Karthik seemed to hit the ball from the meat of the blade, Kaif’s athleticism got the better of the Delhi batsman. The Daredevils were reduced to 55 for the loss of five wickets with Karthik’s dismissal.

Little man Asnodkar took a simple catch off the bowling of Munaf Patel to dismiss Manoj Tiwary for a duck. Tiwary fell in the form of the fourth wicket for the Daredevils and Delhi, for any hopes of making it to the finals of the Indian Premier League, required a huge partnership from Dilshan and Karthik.

Shane Watson claimed three on the trot when he induced Shikhar Dhawan into a mistimed pull shot off a slower short delivery only to be caught by Ravinder Jadeja at mid wicket. It seemed like everything that Watson touched was turning into gold. He had earlier scored a fabulous half century for his team.

The substitute for Smith, Taruwar Kohli, pulled off a stunner to dismiss the in-form Gautam Gambhir off Shane Watson who took his second wicket of the match. Frustration seemed to get on to the Delhi opener who perished in an attempt to up the tempo.

Sohail Tanvir ran almost 30 metres to catch the dangerous Virender Sehwag off Shane Watson. Watson was more than delighted to scalp the Daredevil captain as he could well have made the difference between the two teams. Sehwag perished in an attempt to hook the Australian for the maximum.

The last over proved to be one of the best of the innings for Delhi Daredevils as Mohammad Asif held his nerve and showed class to give only four runs off the 20th over. He caught Rawat off his own bowling in the same over and Yusuf Pathan’s assault was also arrested when Dinesh Karthik collected an accurate throw from Dilshan in the deep to catch Pathan well short of his crease. The Rajasthan Royals finished at 192/9. Related Stories.

Yo Mahesh contributed with two quick wickets after missing a couple of catches to bring the Rajasthan’s juggernaut to a minor halt. Sehwag puuled off a blinder to dismiss the Royals captain Shane Warne and Ravinder Jadeja was caught by Maharoof off Yomi to complete a double. However, Yusuf Pathan remained unaffected and continued his slaughter.

Amit Mishra deceived Shane Watson and rattled the right hander’s stumps to send half the Royal team back to the dugout. Mishra took two of the five till the 16th over.

Mishra joined in the party as he scalped Mohammad Kaif when he rattled batsman’s furniture. Kaif played across the line and missed to hear the jangle of the stumps. The in-form and just selected for the Bangladesh tri-series, Yusuf Pathan joined Shane Watson at the crease.

The loss of the top order seemed to have no effect on Shane Watson, the hard hitting batsman of Rajasthan Royals. He blew the Daredevil bowling smashing them for fours and sixes with Mohammad Kaif at the other end only seeing his Australian partner at his brutal best.

Prior to this, Maharoof became the Daredevil’s saviour as he struck thrice in his two overs and scalped the wickets of Smith, Asnodkar and Tanvir, who was sent in by the captain of Rajasthan Royals, Warne, and applied brakes on the scoring rate of the Royals. Tanvir was sent in to keep the run rate going but the Sri Lankan pacer proved too good for the left hander.

Maharoof struck off consecutive balls to send the openers back to the dugout with 65 runs on the board. Just when Smith started to go after everything, a bowling change to bring on Maharoof clicked when Dhawan plucked the cherry from mid-air to break the opening wicket partnership of 65 quick runs. Next to go was the very explosive Swapnil Asnodkar who was caught at point by Manoj Tiwary.\

Earlier, riding on the explosive and unorthodox batting display, the Rajasthan Royals were off to a flier in the first semi-final against the Daredevils. Smith showed his class while Asnodkar displayed that external appearances are deceptive and unlike his height, he has oodles of talent and hitting prowess. The openers denied the bowling side any wicket and continued their onslaught in customary fashion.

The captain of the Delhi Daredevils, Virender Sehwag, won the toss in the first semi-final of the lucrative and extravagant Indian Premier League and invited his contemporary, Shane Warne, to bat first.

Rajasthan have come into the semis after a huge loss at the hands of the Kings XI Punjab, another team in the semi-finals. Delhi, on the other hand, have had their share of luck in reaching the top four with Mumbai Indians playing a major role.

Both the teams have met twice prior to this in the tournament and are tied 1-1. Rajasthan were thrashed in their very first game when they were torn apart by lethal bowling by McGrath and co. but the Royals avenged their defeat and beat the Daredevils chasing 157 in the later stage of the tournament riding on a fabulous 74 by Shane Watson.

Smith, Tanvir and Warne will all return for Rajasthan and Kamran Akmal misses out whereas Mohammad Asif is back for Delhi Daredevils in place of Geeves.