Rajasthan Royals 152 for 4 (Botha 39*, Dravid 38) beat Delhi Daredevils 151 for 6 (Rao 60, Warner 54, Warne 2-17) by six wickets Sensible knocks by seasoned pros Rahul Dravid and Johan Botha helped Rajasthan Royals beat shoddy Delhi Daredevils by six wickets to register their second successive win in IPL-4 here at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Tuesday.
The Delhi bowlers didn't have much teeth to bite after their batsmen put up a fighting total of 151/6, following Virender Sehwag's decision to bat first.
Indian stalwart Dravid was the epicentre of Rajasthan's chase as the stylish right-hander uncharacteristically took on the Royals' bowlers to get his team off to a flying start.
But a confident start by the Royals was halted by Ashok Dinda who went through the defences of Amit Paunikar.
Dravid, though, remained uninhibited in his strokeplay and in combination with in-form Johan Botha forced Sehwag to look for spin in the form of Roelof van der Merwe.
The ploy worked for Delhi as van der Merw induced an edge off Dravid (38 off 31) that was nicely pouched by wicketkeeper Naman Ojha.
That brought Ashok Menaria to the crease who came with a license to thrill. The former India under-19 skipper didn't hold himself back, giving indications that he had instructions to go for the broke.
Menaria hit three sixes in his 15-ball cameo of 22 runs before falling to Irfan Pathan after his uppish drive found Sehwag in the covers.
Such cameos meant that Royals were never behind the required run-rate and all Botha had to do was stay until the end.
With the Royals looking well on course to register an easy win, Sehwag brought Morne Morkel back who didn't disappoint as he castled Ajinkya Rahane to end his promising inning of 18 runs off 17 balls, which included a four and a six.
From that point on, it was only about the Royals losing it rather than the Daredevils winning it. And with Ross Taylor (18 off 10) and Botha's (39 not out) experience and flair at the wicket, Rajasthan were in good hands.
The Kiwi dasher finished the match in his swashbuckling style with a six over mid-wicket to give Royals a six-wicket comprehensive win.
The Daredevils had nothing to show on the bowling scorecard, with Ashok Dinda (1/34 in 3.3 overs)
and Van der Merwe (1/41 in 4 overs) being the most expensive.
Earlier, the David Warner-Venugopal Rao combine strung up an 83-run match-saving partnership for the fifth wicket after Delhi were reduced to 36/4 inside eight overs.
Sehwag (4) got off the mark in his customary fashion with a boundary off the first ball of the match. But Shaun Tait, who was brought in by Royals after missing the first match, struck on the very next ball to get rid of the dangerous Delhi and India opener.
Delhi's No. 3 Finch (11) then tried to take the aggressive route but he too became Tait's victim who was bowling with his tail up.
But worse was yet to come for Delhi after Rajasthan skipper Shane Warne decided to bring himself into the attack in the eighth over.
The Aussie legend showed in his first over itself that he still was a force to reckon with. After getting Unmukt Chand (2) to edge one to Rahul Dravid in the slips, he induced a false stroke from Naman Ojha (0) off the very next ball to leave Delhi reeling at 36/4.
Amid all this wreckage, Warner held his own while looking for some support from the other end that came from India-discard Rao.
The duo mixed caution with aggression to revive the innings, eventually bringing up their 50-run partnership in the 15th over, followed by Warner's fifty, studded with six boundaries and a six.
Just when Warner started to cut loose, Amit Singh struck for the Royals dismissing him for 54 off just 44 balls.
On the other end, Rao who was well set by now, decided to use the long handle to bring up a flurry of fours and sixes.
Before holing out at mid-wicket, Rao had already brought up his half century but couldn't go further than 60 off mere 40 balls, including four boundaries and four sixes.
For the Royals, Tait and Warne picked up two wickets each but the latter was in his elements with a spell of 4-0-17-2. Amit Singh and Siddharth Trivedi picked a wicket apiece.
Presentation:
Sehwag: "Venu and Warner batted really well. They hit some awesome shots. It was a decent total but Rajasthan played really well. I have to score runs in the coming games. May be if I score, we can reach 160-170. The bowling is still good, we need to concentrate on our batting."
Shane Warne is also Man of the Match: "Not bad. There are still a few areas we can improve. Tait set the scene first up that first over was sensational. Viru is a dangerous player .. Tait bowled beautifully. We could have improved our bowling in the end but our intensity was great. I haven't been fit since I was 12. I just have to bowl only 4 overs, so I can't get too tired." pressed again and again on his fitness secret Warne says " I have been training hard!" And thumps Ravi on the back!
No comments:
Post a Comment