Royals storm into IPL finals

In the first semi-final of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) the Rajasthan Royals beat the Delhi Daredevils owing to another match-winning performance by all-rounder Shane Watson. Playing at a neutral venue, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Shane Warne’s Jaipur beat Virender Sehwag’s Delhi by a massive 105 runs to advance to the finals of the IPL.

Chasing 193 to win on a track that had pace and spin, the Delhi openers went about it brimming with confidence and riding on the backs of some consistent partnerships throughout the tournament. But unfortunately past records prove nothing in a crunch semi-final when you’re chasing almost 10 runs per over. Gautam Gambhir (11) and Virender Sehwag (3) discovered this the hard way as they both found themselves back in the dugout at the end of the fourth over of the innings. Shikhar Dhawan (5) and Manoj Tiwari (0), two other warriors of matches gone by, then came to the crease to perform the rescue act. But the Rajasthan bowlers were backed up by some brilliant fielding and both batsmen lost their wickets with the Daredevils now in dire straits at 28/4 in only the seventh over. The required run rate was now beginning to soar with an asking rate of over 10 runs per over.

Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dinesh Karthik then tried to resuscitate the innings with a 33-run partnership. But the fall of the latter’s wicket on 10 marked the beginning of the end for Delhi. At 55/5 in the tenth over, a win was virtually impossible. Shane Warne and Munaf Patel did the honours of cleaning up the Delhi tail and Rajasthan continued to show why it is the top-ranked team in the tournament. Only Dilshan showed any signs of putting up a fight against the disciplined Rajasthan bowling attack which was well supported by the fielders. But even Dilshan was dismissed by Warne on 33.

All Delhi Daredevils could manage was a hapless 87 all out in 16 overs thanks to the splendid bowling efforts of Shane Watson (3 for 10 in 3 overs) and Munaf Patel (3 for 17 in 4 overs). The captain, Shane Warne, also contributed with 2 wickets in what was an all-round bowling effort by the Royals. Delhi fell short of the Royals’ target by mammoth 105 runs.

Earlier in the day, Virender Sehwag won the toss for the Delhi Daredevils and decided to put the opposition in to bat. Openers Graeme Smith and Swapnil Asnodkar took their time to get used to the pitch conditions and seemed composed even though the match was a semi-final. Once they got their eye in, they unfurled a range of strokes and before long, Rajasthan was cruising at 10 runs per over. As if to compensate for his mistake of dropping a sitter early on in the innings, Farveez Maharoof put the brakes on the Rajasthan batting when he scalped both openers in his first over, in the div of 3 balls. It was the seventh over when the Sri Lankan struck and the score was already 65 with Smith scoring 25 and Asnodkar 39. Sohail Tanvir (5) was promoted up the order but failed to do much good with the bat.

Just when the Daredevils thought they were beginning to claw their way back into the game with the Rajasthan scoreboard reading 76/3 in 9 overs, along came Shane Watson who had all the plans to spoil the Delhi party. He accompanied Mohammad Kaif (12) in a partnership worth 52 runs which came off just 29 balls. Even as Kaif lost his wicket, Watson found another worthy ally in Yusuf Pathan.

Watson and Pathan single-handedly began taking the game away from Delhi with glorious shots to all parts of the ground. The Aussie all-rounder scored his fourth half century of the tournament before he went down the track in an attempt to accelerate the run rate and found his bails rattled by Delhi keeper, Dinesh Karthik off the bowling of Amit Mishra. He scored 52 from 29 balls. He fell at the end of the sixteenth over with the score reading 155/5. His innings set Rajasthan Royals up for a grand total.

Yusuf Pathan continued the assault, after Watson’s departure. But even with wickets falling at the other end, Pathan didn’t seem perturbed as he scored 45 runs in just 21 balls before he was run out in the final over of the innings. Rajasthan finished at 192/9 in their 20 overs.

Shane Watson was rightfully declared the Player of the Match for his 52 runs with the bat and 3 wickets with the ball. While he was at the crease, the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium briefly forgot the fact that their home team, Mumbai was not in the semi-final as Watson gave them a lot to cheer about. This is the Australian’s fourth Player of the Match award in the IPL.

The second semi-final will be played at the same venue today between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings. One of these two sides will meet the Rajasthan Royals in what promises to be a cracker of a final tomorrow at the DY Patil Sports Stadium which is also in Mumbai.