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NEWS DETAILS
Royals cruise into IPL final
Rajasthan Royals capped another emphatic performance in the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) with a convincing 105-run win over the Delhi Daredevils in the first semi-final played on Friday at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
Chasing a daunting 193 for victory, the Daredevils never got off to the kind of start that they had hoped for, especially with captain Virender Sehwag not getting off the blocks quickly enough. Calamity struck early as Sehwag (3) top-edged a mistimed pull off Shane Watson's first over and an agile Sohail Tanvir took a safe catch. With the danger man out of the equation, the Royals looked much assured and the runs were hard to come by for Delhi. In a mad attempt to quicken the flow of runs, with the score still at 23 after 3.5 overs, Gautam Gambhir (11) danced down the track and tried slapping the ball past point. However, substitute fielder Taruwar Kohli threw himself to his left and pulled off a stunner to dismiss Delhi's highest scorer in the tournament.
Delhi's next best batsman Shikhar Dhawan (5) too couldn't do much as by the end of the Power Play period, he too had fallen prey to Watson's (3 for 10) tight bowling. Delhi finally succumbed to all the talk about how only their top three had performed and that there was nothing much the frail middle order could do unless the team got off to a good start. The score read an unfavourable 28 for 3 at the end of 6 overs and very soon, Manoj Tiwary's (0) wicket off Munaf Patel (3 for 17) made it 28 for 4. It didn't take a rocket scientist at this stage to predict who would win this encounter. The only question was when. At the end of 10 overs, the Daredevils were wallowing at 56 for 5 with even their last match hero Dinesh Karthik (10) back in the pavilion. Tillakaratne Dilshan (33), however tried to delay the impending doom by nevertheless going for the big shots and by the time he was out, the score was 77 for 7.
The rest was just a matter of formality: Delhi lost Amit Mishra (2) and Yo Mahesh (3) within the next 3 overs. The last wicket fell in the most comically inappropriate fashion. Asif (3) played towards short fine leg while McGrath (4*) had run down a long way. The fielder threw the ball towards the bowler's end but McGrath had made his ground. Yusuf, who had collected the throw from the fine leg fielder, saw that Asif was still out of his crease and in no hurry to get back. Yusuf dispatched the ball to the keeper who obliged, breaking the stumps with Asif just short of his crease.
Earlier in the day, Sehwag, who had declared his intentions of fielding first if he won the toss well before the match, did just that. Bowling the first over of the match, Glenn McGrath delivered the goods first up by giving away just 1 run and Mohammed Asif followed in similar fashion; 7 runs were taken off his first over. Just when it looked like Sehwag's plan was starting to work, young Swapnil Asnodkar and Graeme Smith started playing the spoilsport role. Asnodkar smacked three boundaries off Asif's second over and Smith hit three off McGrath's next! Smith had pulled his hamstring in the third over, was given a runner - and then started using his feet to good effect. He charged down the ground, stepped outside leg stump, walked across the stumps and played an array of shots.
In a crunch game, fielding is what makes the difference between the winner and the loser. Off the very first ball of Yo Mahesh's over, the sixth of the innings, Asnodkar pulled a short ball to long leg where Maharoof got into perfect position, took the ball at chest height and then made a mess of it. To add insult to injury, the ball rolled over to the boundary line. Asnodkar made the most of the new lease of life, taking 11 more runs off "Yomi" in that over.
At the end of the Power Play, Rajasthan were sitting pretty on 58 for no loss, 43 of them coming off the last three overs. Delhi though, struck back with a vengeance. Farveez Maharoof, who has proved to be one of the top all-rounders of the tournament, gave ample proof of it today. In his very first over, he snapped up both Smith (25) and Asnodkar (39), albeit some great fielding helped the cause.
In a surprise move, Shane Warne gave Purple Cap holder Sohail Tanvir (5) a promotion up the order, sending him one down. Apart from a glorious cover drive, nothing much came off the bat of the Pakistani who has the reputation of being a big hitter. He was Maharoof's third victim of the evening as he top-edged a bouncer to keeper Dinesh Karthik. The lanky Sri Lankan, along with Yo Mahesh (2 for 50) kept things tight after the openers had got the Royals off to a blistering start. At the end 10 overs, the score read 83 for 3.
Shane Watson (52) though, had other plans. The hulky Queenslander, for whom the IPL has been a journey of rediscovery, did justice to the copious expectations others had of him. He took 20 runs off the 11th over, to considerably swing the momentum in the Royals' favour. Along with Mohammed Kaif, he put on 52 runs in a partnership where he easily dwarfed Kaif's contribution of 12 runs.
The last ball of the 15th over signified the kind of day Delhi and Yo Mahesh, in particular, were having. Watson pulled a ball towards mid-wicket and it would have been an easy catch for Yo Mahesh who over-ran it, the ball going one-bounce to the boundary. At this stage, Rajasthan were 142/4 and with an over each to go from Messers McGrath (0 for 38), Asif (1 for 32) and Maharoof (3 for 34), things could've got sticky. Yusuf Pathan (45), however, had come out with a positive intent. Although wickets kept falling at the other end, he kept his nerve to keep the big hits coming. By the time he got out, he had taken the score to 191, the innings ending on 192/9.
At the presentation ceremony, Shane Watson was aptly declared Player of the Match for his fine all-round performance. Watson now has 16 wickets in the tournament along with 444 runs.
Rajasthan Royals go to the finals with a huge confidence boost, having defeated a balanced side like Delhi by a huge margin. They will meet the winner of Saturday's semi-final, between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings, on Sunday at the DY Patil Stadium at Nerul, Mumbai.
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